


Give me a thousand kisses

by Seyary_Minamoto



Category: Thor (Movies)
Genre: F/M, Loki Does What He Wants, Sif punches his heart, Sifki Week 2017, Young Love, but fortunately suited this prompt so here goes, realm-hopping, this was actually in the drafts for ages
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-07-09
Updated: 2017-07-09
Packaged: 2018-11-29 23:15:58
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 4
Words: 24,714
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11451099
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Seyary_Minamoto/pseuds/Seyary_Minamoto
Summary: As seasons and years go by in the realm of Asgard, the growing prince and the rising warrior find a kindred soul in one another, regardless of their differences. A budding friendship develops into different feelings over time, but can they act on them if the All-Father has different plans for the two of them?





	1. Age 7

**Author's Note:**

> I've had this story waiting a long time, but I finally decided it was time to post it today, for Sifki Week's Young Love day. 
> 
> While it does say each chapter happens at a specific age, we do know Asgardians have a long lifespan and their youth likely is much longer than our human standards. Therefore, if you'd be so kind, just interpret each age marker as a reference regarding the maturity of our two characters rather than a solid, strict number regarding how old they are.
> 
> The first chapter is very short, as it is their first encounter. The next ones will of be my typical insane chapter length, so brace yourselves, I guess!

He made great efforts to keep from giggling his way through his scheme. He couldn’t let anyone see or hear him, though, so he made sure not to laugh no matter how much he wanted to.

He hid behind a tall pillar and peeked at the Throne Room from behind it, a smirk on his face. The room was empty at the moment… perfect. Nobody would notice he had sneaked inside early so long as he was stealthy about it.

He bit his lower lip as he went over his plan in his head once more. First, he would need a double of himself… then he would bring forth the main illusion, the one that would frighten that visiting nobleman and his family off their Palace. It wasn’t that Loki wasn’t a friendly boy… well, in truth, he wasn’t. Thor was the one who earned everyone’s love and affection just by being himself, while Loki only ever got confused looks and fake smiles. Whatever made Thor more popular than he was, Loki didn’t quite understand it… but the general favoring of Thor over him had slowly led him to dislike most people, to the point where he didn’t want any guests to stay at his father’s Palace. He was sure today’s guests wouldn’t like him… so he wasn’t going to be friendly towards them either.

He rubbed his hands together before conjuring the very first illusion. As the apprentice sorcerer he was, he couldn’t create any illusions unless he was watching them… so he was very careful as he produced a double of himself, dressed in fine clothes and with his dark hair properly brushed, just as his mother liked it. Loki smiled at himself, and his double smiled back. This would be so much fun…

Only a few minutes later, guards began entering the room and they found the young prince waiting within it. Only, it wasn’t the young prince but his clone, who was looking at them coyly from the center of the room.

“Why, aren’t you eager for the meeting, Prince Loki” said one of the Einherjar, smiling at him.

Loki nodded and lowered his gaze… in a gesture that was slightly too guilty, it seemed to the real Loki. That didn’t come off right, but how was he supposed to fix it now? Still for some reason, the Einherjar didn’t see through his trick. They probably didn’t think he would do anything troublesome… ah, they would see just how wrong they were about that in no time.

The All-Father arrived soon enough and he greeted Loki quite formally, yet he gave Loki a fond smile. Loki’s double beamed back at him, and his smile was wider when he saw his mother had arrived too. Frigga leaned down and fixed his hair, even though it had seemed to Loki it was already perfect. But it filled him with pride to see his mother hadn’t noticed she was dealing with an illusion…

His brother arrived as loudly as ever, talking to an Einherjar and probably telling him that he was going to grow to be much stronger than him. Loki’s double only smiled awkwardly at that, and soon enough, Odin began arranging his family so that they would stand in proper order to greet their visitors. Odin stood in front of the Throne, with Frigga at his right hand and Thor at his left. Loki’s double stood next to Frigga, and it seemed to the real Loki it was the best place for him indeed.

In no time, the arrival of their guests was heralded. Loki smiled and rubbed his hands together again, closing his eyes to conjure the magic he needed to bring forth his scheme…

A tall man with a gold mustache entered the room with a woman whose hair was just as bright as her husband’s. The girl that arrived with them could only be their daughter, for the resemblance she held with both of them was uncanny. Yet Loki’s eyes were closed. He didn’t see any of them, busy conjuring his magic as he was.

“Welcome to Asgard,” Loki heard his father say, after addressing the visitors by their names. “It will be our pleasure to share our home with all three of you during the next seasons.”

“We thank you very much for your hospitality, All-Father,” Loki heard the voice of the unknown man now, the visitor.

Odin proceeded to introduce the families while Loki was building up his power and directing it towards the illusion he was trying to produce. He gritted his teeth as he continued to bring forth his magic while Odin was speaking to the children.

“Thor, Loki… this is the young Lady Sif.”

Thor raised his eyebrows and looked at her with interest, while Loki’s double didn’t know how to react. What would his original do if he were faced with this young girl…?

Soon enough, that question was answered.

Loki finished bringing about his illusion, which had formed right at the doorway, and he looked towards the two families as they exchanged pleasantries…

And his jaw dropped when his eyes found the young girl with the golden hair.

He had never seen anyone like her before… he hadn’t met many children his age, for starters, but there was something about her that made him gape in awe. She was smiling as she nodded at Thor, who had waved at her happily. Why had she noticed Thor and not him…? Loki felt a pang of jealousy at that. The rest of Asgard already focused on Thor, why would she do the same? It wasn’t fair… his mother often told him he was very handsome, so that should appeal to the girl, all the same as her beauty appealed to him…

The young prince didn’t quite understand the nature of his feelings right then and there. Yet all he could do was look at her in utter amazement, wondering if she might be the fairest being in all the Nine Realms…

And that was when the monstrous white wolf barged into the Throne Room.

Loki was startled when the animal howled, all the same as the Einherjar and the families within the room. They all jumped back and turned towards the wolf warily, but confused. How had this wolf intruded upon them without anyone noticing?!

“Is it… Fenrir?!” asked Frigga, aghast as she recognized the creature.

“What?! B-but you just told us the tale of Fenrir last night, mother! Didn’t you say it was a legend?!” Thor exclaimed, looking at the creature with dread. He boasted of being stronger than most Asgardians his age, but he didn’t think he’d be capable of defeating a legendary wolf just yet. Ah, but surely, his father…

“Stand back, all of you!” Odin shouted, at the guards who were about to attack the creature. “It may grow violent if attacked!”

But it seemed it would be violent even if it weren’t attacked. Fenrir snarled and barked at all of them, and his claws dug into the floors of the Throne Room. He leaned down and took an Einherjar between his jaws just as Loki began struggling to end the illusion before he got himself into some real trouble. He couldn’t let the false Fenrir frighten the girl, no, that wasn’t what he had planned! Though… actually, it was exactly what he had planned. But this wasn’t what he wanted, not anymore!

He turned to look at her, scared she might have ran to hide in her parents arms or behind Thor, perhaps…

The sight he found left him agape for a whole different reason now.

The golden haired girl had pulled her father’s sword out of its scabbard, it seemed, and she was wielding it with fear, yet with determination. Her father was telling her to come hide by the throne with him, her mother, Frigga and Thor, but the child wasn’t listening. She stood next to Odin, who had been about to begin a counterattack on the wolf… until he caught sight of the brave young girl right next to him, holding the sword as if she had been born to hold it.

“What do you think you’re…?” he began, astounded, as Sif marched forward.

“I will rid us of the beast, even if it takes me my last breath!” she exclaimed proudly, glaring at Fenrir angrily.

Her last breath? Well, that was quite extreme. What was she thinking? There just might be something wrong with that girl... Loki grimaced, but continued trying to tear down his illusion, but it was harder than he expected it to be… he needed to get quicker at this, this could become a catastrophe if he was unable to put an end to it.

But as the beast grew wilder, it became easy to guess that Fenrir would choose the little girl as his target next. Loki had no more time to waste: he jumped out of his hiding place.

“Stop! Don’t!” he screamed, waving his arms and putting his mind to making the beast vanish.

“Loki?” Odin said now, frowning. How had he suddenly darted out from the least expected direction when he should have been hiding with his mother and the rest…?

The little girl was surprised to see him too… and even more surprised when the white beast disappeared suddenly with a blast of green. Loki stopped right in front of the girl, looking at her worriedly.

“Are you alright?” he asked, as she looked at him in confusion.

“How…? Are you a sorcerer?” she asked, amazed.

“I… uh, yes,” Loki said, biting his lip and lowering his head shyly… and suddenly that shyness became nervousness when his father approached, a deep frown on your face.

“Loki,” he said, with a deep booming voice. Loki stepped back, dreading the reprimand he was about to receive. “Did you make an illusion of yourself and the wolf Fenrir?”

“I… I did, but I… I didn’t mean for it to go this far…” Loki muttered, but it seemed that wouldn’t appease his father.

“You could have caused a real crisis, Loki,” said Odin, sternly. “One of the guards is wounded, and you could have hurt young Lady Sif!”

Lady Sif, was it…? Loki glanced at her quickly, and was surprised to see the girl was still looking at him. Yet instead of fear and distrust, her eyes gleamed with curiosity.

Loki lowered his gaze again as Odin continued to tell him off, but although he should have known better, he wasn’t listening to what his father said. All he could think about was this young girl, who hopefully would be at least a little interested in him, just as he was interested in her…


	2. Age 10

Magic had always been his forte. He didn’t care for fighting with swords and shields, for sweating under the sun while clashing against his peers and roaring cries of war.

It was why it had always bothered him that Thor and his friends would run straight to the training site early in the morning, without failing to tease him afterwards about not tagging along with them. If they ever wanted to do anything other than beating each other bloody, maybe Loki would want to join them. But they had no love for books, for magic or for pranks… and thus, Loki was always left glaring at them from the Palace windows as they fought below, shouting and screaming and being completely uncivilized because that was what warriors were like.

Loki was busy on the Library today, reading an old book about Nidavellir and dwarven magic that he hadn’t studied before. His mother often praised his thirst for knowledge, and he liked to impress her by showing her everything he had learned from his study sessions.

But his reading was brusquely interrupted when someone barged into the Library loudly. Loki frowned and looked out through the tall shelves, wondering why had someone entered his favorite room so violently.

He was surprised to see the unexpected arrival was none other than Sif, but his glee upon seeing her was subdued soon enough. She wasn’t like Thor or Fandral, who enjoyed to tease him about his sorcery. She had never claimed he only declined their offers to join them in the training yard because he wasn’t man enough to face them. But that didn’t mean he got along all that well with Sif anyways… she seemed to find his magic interesting, but not interesting enough. She would much rather spend her days crossing blades with the young warriors of Asgard, comparing her steel with theirs, than to give Loki some company.

Which was why he was so surprised to find her here. She wasn’t one given to reading, all the same as Thor… And she looked very angry, for some reason. Loki frowned. If she was irritated for one thing or the other, maybe she ought to work out that anger in the training ring… she’d better not come here to tear apart books, or else he might end up using his magic to send her away. And he would have had no problem to do that with the others… but when it came to Sif he wasn’t sure what to think or what to do. Her beauty still held great sway over him, and as they grew older, the spell her features cast upon him had only become stronger.

“What are you doing here?” he asked, frowning and hoping she might leave if she noticed she wasn’t alone.

She was startled when she found there had been someone inside, but she didn’t turn to leave anyways. Loki didn’t know if that was a good sign or a bad one.

“I just… I should have guessed you’d be here,” said Sif, now feeling quite foolish for not having made the connection. Loki always spent his free time somewhere her group of friends didn’t frequent… and what other place could that be but the Library? “I just came to get away from them, I won’t bother you if you’re busy, I just…”

“Did something happen to you? Did they do something to you?” Loki asked, worried. “My brother…”

“He didn’t do anything,” said Sif, huffing in irritation. “Nobody did anything, not for real. It was just an accident.”

“What was?” Loki asked, confused. “Did you get hurt? Or did you…?”

“Make a fool of myself? Ah, yes, that I did,” Sif said, bitterly, as she took a fistful of her hair in her hand and showed Loki what the problem was.

Loki grimaced when he saw that her strands of hair had been cut short somehow. He hadn’t noticed it upon her arrival, but it seemed that about half her hair was of the length of her shoulders now, while the rest of it still scrolled down her back.

“Uh… who did it?” Loki asked, gulping.

“Me,” Sif said, sighing and shaking her head. “I fell and Fandral was pushing my arms down. My sword was right on top of my hair and I turned around too fast… and when I did, I accidentally cut it, and now I look like this!”

Loki smiled weakly, but it seemed Sif didn’t care to know whether he felt sorry for her or not. She was still too angry about the entire ordeal to pay much attention to his reactions.

“And those idiots were just teasing and laughing and saying I should have shorter hair if I want to be a warrior…” Sif said, rolling her eyes “As if! That big burly guy, Volstagg, he has the longest hair I’ve seen, and the longest beard too! So why would I have to cut it if he doesn’t need to?!”

“Well… maybe he’s more experienced than you at fighting with long hair,” said Loki, shrugging. “Maybe in a few years of practice your hair won’t get in the way…”

“That’s just stupid,” Sif said, glaring. “My hair wasn’t in the way until today! And it was just fine until that moron held me down like that. I can fight with long hair…”

“Well, even if you can, it’s not going to be long anymore… is it?” Loki said. “I mean, half of it is, the other half isn’t…”

“Why, you’re really as clever as your brother says,” said Sif, sarcastically. Loki glared at her. “Obviously, it’s not as long as it used to be anymore. And I don’t know what to do about it.”

“I could help you cut it even, if you want,” said Loki, shrugging. “I mean, unless you want to do it yourself…”

“Yeah, because the last haircut I gave myself went so well…” said Sif, rolling her eyes. “I don’t want it cut, I want it long. Else that stupid Fandral will keep mocking me...”

“And what do you want, then?” Loki asked, skeptical. “You want me to grow it out for you now?”

“Could you do that with your magic?” Sif asked, her eyes lighting up. Oh, sure, so now she wanted his help, she wasn’t going to be sarcastic and snarky anymore…

“No, I can’t,” said Loki, glaring at her. “If I could I would have offered that, but I’ve never seen a spell of the sort. Who would want a spell to grow out hair?”

“Well, maybe a bald sorcerer would,” said Sif, shrugging. “So you don’t know how to do it? Not a clue?”

“No, I’m sorry,” said Loki, sighing. “But… my mother trims my hair with magic. I think I saw the spell on some book a few days ago, but I didn’t care much for it. Would you want me to do that?”

“Well… with magic?” Sif asked, frowning. “Wouldn’t it be safer to do it with a blade…?”

“Blades are your expertise, Sif, mine is magic,” said Loki. “Who knows if I’d end up cutting you up instead if I tried to use a blade on you?”

“You’re not that clumsy…” said Sif, looking at him in disbelief.

“Are you going to risk it?” Loki asked, raising his eyebrows.

Sif sighed and rolled her eyes before shrugging.

“Well, fine, just don’t make it so I end up with shorter hair than Fandral, even. I want it as long as it can be, alright?”

“I’ll do my best,” Loki said, with a mocking bow before starting his search for the book.

It took him some time to find the right book he needed, but at last he found it. He returned to Sif, who had taken her seat by the table he had been reading at before she barged into the Library.

“Why are you reading about dwarves?” she asked, raising an eyebrow.

“Because they have some magical secrets I’m not familiar with,” said Loki, dropping the book he had found by the table. “And I’m reading it to become familiar with them, obviously”

“Huh…” said Sif, frowning as she passed a page and looked at the confusing runes that had been engraved into the pages of the book.

“Okay, then, you came here for a haircut, didn’t you?” said Loki, worried about losing the page he had been reading before her arrival.

“Yeah, you found the recipe?”

“... The spell. Not recipe. I’m not going to cook you”

“Well, I’d hope not…”

“Ugh, just turn around,” said Loki, sighing. This girl was very pretty, strong and brave, but she was such an ignorant regarding magic…

Sif sat with her back towards him, and Loki grasped her golden hair nervously. He swallowed hard as he pulled it all back, brushing her neck as he did. He had never touched her before…

“Remember, as long as it can be,” said Sif.

“Right,” said Loki, taking a deep breath before focusing on the task at hand.

The spell wasn’t a complicated one, it wasn’t supposed to be. This was the way his mother trimmed his hair and Thor’s ever since he could remember. And he had always turned out fine, so surely, Sif would look great as well…! Or so he could only hope.

He wished he weren’t so nervous when he began using his magic on her, but alas, it couldn’t be helped. This wasn’t as simple as it looked, mostly because he didn’t want to let her down. If anything, he wanted to show her just how useful he could be, so she would be amazed by his skills. Maybe this way she would spend more time with him and not so much with Thor and Fandral…

When the first chunk of golden hair dropped to the floor, Loki gulped. Well, that was the start of it… he only had to keep his mind set on making her hair even, that was all there was to it. He bit his lip and moved his hands sideways over her head slowly, and more curls fell down as he did. It seemed to him she was turning out just fine…

“How does it look?” Sif asked, nervously as well, trying to look at him from the corner of her eyes.

“It’s, uh… fine, so far,” he said, licking his lips. “I’m trying to keep it as long as the part you cut off accidentally.”

“Good. I guess you’re really a lifesaver, Loki…” Sif said, with a weak smile.

A smile that caught his eye. He had never seen her smile like that, not at him nor at anyone else. She was smiling because he was cutting her hair? She had called him a lifesaver, too… he began beaming before he knew it, his hands still on her head.

“No, no, it’s nothing, really!” he said, happily, before moving his hands carelessly upwards as he shrugged…

His eyes widened, and so did Sif’s, when she felt the hair on the back of her head being cut off far shorter than it should have.

“No, no! That’s not what…!” he exclaimed, and his sudden outburst of emotion caused his magic to course out of control before he could reel it back into his power again…

Sif didn’t have a mirror with which she could look at herself with… but she didn’t think she needed one, let alone wanted one, when she felt the most unpleasant sensation she had ever experienced, a sensation of nakedness, of coldness: all her hair had been magically plucked out of her head to leave her with a bare scalp.

Loki looked at the back of her head in horror, aghast over what he had just done. After trying to do things properly, after striving to earn her appreciation as he had, he had ruined everything! She was bald now! Bald! There wasn’t a single hair in that head!

“L-Loki…” Sif said, her voice shaky, making Loki’s stomach sink even further. “What did you just…?”

“I… I… Sif, I’m so sorry! I didn’t mean to…!”

“It’s just an illusion, isn’t it?” she asked, turning to look at him with a grimace. “It’s not… real, is it? I still have my hair… m-my uneven hair, don’t I? This is only one of your pranks… isn’t it? Loki...”

“Y-you… S-Sif, I…” Loki mumbled, growing paler under her emerald gaze… a gaze that was threatening to turn into a glare.

“You… you cut it all off?” she asked at last, swallowing hard as she finally faced reality. “You… Loki, did you…?”

“I’m so sorry, Sif!” Loki exclaimed, dropping on his knees and picking up her strands of hair for no actual purpose. What could he possibly do with her golden locks at this point in time? “I’ll, I’ll… I’ll put it back somehow! I can do it, I’m sure…!”

“But you just said that couldn’t be done!” Sif shouted.

“No, no, I must have been mistaken…!”

“If you were mistaken even about that, then it would seem cutting it wasn’t the first mistake you made!” Sif exclaimed, standing up and throwing her hands up in anger. “Ugh, you’ve…! You’ve shaved my head, Loki! Now I’m bald, you heard me?! BALD! How the Norns am I supposed to face that stupid Fandral now?!”

“I’m so sorry…” Loki continued, but it seemed Sif wouldn’t hear any of what he had to say.

“Ugh! Maybe you were right, I should have just cut it myself! Better yet, I shouldn’t have cut it at all!” she exclaimed, dropping on heavily on her chair again and her head fell atop the large volume Loki had been reading earlier. “Thank you SO MUCH, Prince Loki!”

“Sif, please, it was never my intention…! T-there has to be a solution, I mean it!” Loki said, standing before her and looking at her with dread.

“Sure thing, Loki,” Sif grunted. “After you shaved my head clean, of course I’m going to trust you with finding a solution…”

“Really, Sif, I…! Okay, maybe you don’t trust me, and after this maybe you never will…” Loki said, stepping away and walking back and forth for a moment before turning towards her again. “But… Sif, move.”

“What?” said Sif bitterly, lifting her head and scowling at him. The force of her glare was such that Loki took a step back before moving towards her warily.

“Let me… the book you were lying on, it - it speaks of very advanced magic…”

“Advanced magic?! You really think I’m going to trust in magic after THIS?!” Sif shouted, pointing at her bald head.

“Well, maybe you won’t trust in my magic, but you could trust in that of someone else!” Loki exclaimed. At this point he really didn’t want any validation, much unlike he had at first. Now he only wanted to help Sif one way or another, no matter the cost, so she could regain her beautiful golden hair.

“Someone else? Who, your mother? Or your father? Who?” Sif asked, frowning.

“Them,” said Loki, pointing at a picture in the book.

Sif frowned as she looked at the drawing before her. Were those…?

“Dwarves? You think dwarves can help me get my hair back? You think they’ll manage to attach it back?” Sif asked, confused.

“Maybe,” said Loki, shrugging. “Their magic is very different from the one I use… it’s why I've been studying it, I wanted to try to comprehend it better but so far I haven’t had much luck. I guess it’s because their race is so different from ours, and so is their magic…”

“Are you making this up?” Sif asked, frowning.

“Of course not! Here, read it yourself!” Loki exclaimed, flipping the pages back to the very beginning of the book.

“I don’t understand these weird dwarvish runes,” Sif grunted.

“Well, if you studied more and spent less time beating people up, you might...” Loki mumbled under his breath.

“Did you say something?” Sif asked, raising her eyebrows.

“No, no! Of course not!” Loki said, gulping. “Uh… well, if you want I can give you a dictionary so you can translate it yourself, if you really won’t believe in what I say…”

“That would be a huge waste of time,” said Sif, sighing. “Say, even if I did believe you, which I’m still not sure if I do… how would we do this? And how do you expect those dwarves to help me anyways?”

“T-they could… they could probably attach your hair back somehow, I’m sure,” said Loki, gulping. “They must know of some way to do it. And, as for how we’ll do it… I suppose we’ll have to travel to Nidavellir.”

“Wha…? Nidavellir?!” Sif exclaimed, eyes widening.

“Well, if it’s too much of a fuss I can go by myself!” said Loki, raising his hands. “I know you don’t want people to see you like this, so I can go and come back as quickly as I can with the knowledge…”

“Nidavellir…” Sif said, and only now Loki realized her eyes gleamed with excitement. “I’ve never been there, Loki.”

“Uh, w-well… neither have I, to be honest, but I… I’ll make this up to you, Sif,” Loki said, swallowing hard and looking at her earnestly. “I’ll… I’ll fix this, no matter what it takes. I’ll do anything and everything that’s needed to get your hair back to how it was.”

“To how it was before the accident…?”

“Of course,” Loki declared. “You have my word… no matter how little worth you may find in it.”

Sif looked at him in surprise, never having expected him to diminish himself in this way. Sure, she was angry about ending up bald… but that didn’t mean she thought so lowly of Loki or his word. Perhaps they weren’t the closest of friends, but she still thought of him as one, even if he hardly ever joined in their training sessions… maybe they didn’t know each other too well, but she was sure his word was far worthier than he gave it credit for.

“Well, it’s not like I don’t find any worth in your word, there’s no need to take it so far…” Sif muttered, “What happened just now was a mistake, wasn’t it?”

“W-well… yeah. I didn’t mean to…”

“Then if it’s an honest mistake it doesn’t mean you’re that unreliable,” Sif said, smiling weakly. “And if you really think these dwarves can help us - if we can go to Nidavellir…”

“Wait… we?” Loki blinked and looked at Sif in disbelief.

“Well, naturally!” she exclaimed. “You think I’ll let you go on this journey alone? And to a place I want to visit? Of course not! I must go with you, it’s my hair that needs fixing anyways… if I didn’t go, surely they wouldn’t know how to fit it, would they?”

“I, uh… guess?” said Loki, surprised. He hadn’t expected her to grow so enthusiastic after being so upset only instants earlier. Were all girls like this, or was it only her?

“Then it’s settled!” Sif exclaimed, smiling. “Though… how are we going to get there? My brother… he’ll notice I don’t have hair, if he hasn’t noticed it already…

“If you wear a hood, he won’t,” said Loki, shrugging, “Here.”

And with a flicker of his hand, a woolen green cloak appeared on Sif’s shoulders, held together over her chest with a golden clasp. Sif looked at it in surprise as Loki approached and, nervously, pulled the hood over her head.

“There… that should help. If he still notices, he’ll notice you’re trying to hide for some reason… and if he’s a good man, he won’t ask unwanted questions.”

“But he’s the guardian of Asgard, the All-Father’s all-seeing sentry…” said Sif, grimacing. “If he thinks we have no business in Nidavellir, he won’t let us go.”

“Well, what would he know?” said Loki, frowning. “You needn’t worry. I’ll figure out how to appease him if he starts prying too much.”

“You think you can do that?” Sif asked, looking at Loki warily.

“I’ll try,” said Loki, shrugging. “So… are we doing this, then?”

“I suppose,” said Sif, with a weak grin. “This had better work, Loki.”

“It will… I’ll make sure it does,” Loki said, trying to reassure her with a smile of his own.

Two children walking into the Bifrost would have been an odd sight on any normal day, and this time around it was absolutely puzzling. The guards who stood by the bridge, keeping tabs on those who traveled and what their business might be, stared at the two kids with confusion until they realized one of them was none other than the All-Father’s second son. No matter what had brought him here, surely he meant to have his way, no matter what the soldiers said… yet stopping him would be wisest nonetheless.

“To where are you headed, young Prince?” one of the soldiers asked.

“Lady Sif wishes to see her brother,” Loki replied, at which his companion looked at him in surprise. “She asked me to come with her because she thought you’d let her reach him easily if she was accompanied by a Prince.”

“So you’re escorting the young Lady?” asked the soldier, raising his eyebrows. “Well, that’s quite gentlemanly on your part, young Prince… Enjoy your visit to Heimdall, then.”

And with that, they were free to go. Loki ushered Sif towards the Rainbow Bridge and they made the long walk to the Observatory together.

They hardly spoke, nervous as they both were. Sif kept pulling the hood over her features, hoping to conceal her bald head from anyone who might look at her. She was sure she would still stir the suspicion of whoever saw her… everyone she knew was used to seeing her with her flowing golden curls. Surely it would make for an odd sight to find her covering up her beautiful hair like this.

Heimdall stood on the Observatory, his large sword held in both hands as his legendary gaze raked the stars of the Nine Realms. He didn’t react when the two children entered the chamber, and Loki looked at him nervously before clearing his throat.

“Uh… good Heimdall,” he said, imitating the way in which he had heard adults talk. “We have come here to…”

“To seek passage into Nidavellir,” Heimdall finished, making Loki freeze in his spot. So it was true… the man could see and hear anything indeed. “You and Lady Sif both, Prince Loki?”

“Yes, she… she wishes to meet the dwarves and I said I could take her there,” said Loki, lying blatantly and earning himself a look of disbelief from Sif.

“Oh? Meet the dwarves, is it?” Heimdall asked, finally turning around to regard the two kids.

“I… I would like to, yes,” Sif said, and she felt a pang of guilt despite not having lied. She wanted to meet them, of course she did; it just wasn’t the main reason why they were headed to Nidavellir. But Heimdall didn’t need to know that, did he?

“Two young asgardians, seeking passage into another realm without any supervision…” said Heimdall, looking at Loki inquisitively.

“M-my father knows about this, if that’s what you’re…”

“There is no purpose in lying to me, Loki. That’s quite a silver tongue you have, one that could trick even the wisest men if you put it to good use. Yet I had been following the two of you with my gaze ever since Sif stormed into the Library. Do you expect me to take your lies for truths when I already know they are false?”

Loki found himself blushing, and Sif glared at him sideways.

“I told you you wouldn’t trick him,” Sif said. “Nobody can trick my brother.”

“Why, such a kind compliment,” said Heimdall, smiling at Sif as Loki scowled.

“Brother… we need to go to Nidavellir,” Sif repeated. “If you were watching… it means you saw what happened to my hair.”

“I did,” Heimdall said. “It’s quite a fine solution to your predicament, I believe. No longer will you have to worry about your hair bothering you in battle.”

“B-but…! You can’t expect me to remain bald!” Sif exclaimed.

“I don’t. Your hair will grow out later, I’m certain…”

“But brother!”

“Gatekeeper… sir,” Loki said, taking a step forward. “If you saw what happened, you must have seen it was a mistake. Sif’s golden hair is magnificent, everyone knows it! I did not mean to make it vanish, and I seek to make amends for my wrongdoing. Please, allow us into Nidavellir so that the dwarves can help us fix this.”

“Indeed, her golden hair is magnificent, and it’s certain to grow out magnificently as time goes by,” said Heimdall. “I would much rather my sister learns the meaning of patience than to let the two of you into the dwarven Realm.”

“We won’t get in trouble, if that’s what you’re worried about,” Sif said, pleading now. “Please, brother…”

“You two are the perfect combination to attract trouble,” Heimdall stated, at which both children were quite embarrassed. “And we have been at peace with Nidavellir for long centuries. We cannot risk losing said peace only because Sif wants her hair back.”

“Why would we start a war over hair?” asked Loki, skeptical.

“You are Loki Odinson, a boy who has caused more problems than I could possibly keep count of,” Heimdall said. “If anyone is bound to start a war over hair, it’s you.”

Loki stared at the gatekeeper, indignant by his claims, yet Sif shrugged and looked at him with honest eyes.

“He is right about that, you know…”

“You’re not helping our cause, Sif,” Loki grunted, glaring at her now.

“You both are too young to undertake a perilous journey through the Bifrost on your own,” said Heimdall. “I don’t believe…”

“I won’t cause any trouble, Heimdall,” Loki exclaimed. “And if I do, you’re welcome to use the power of the Rainbow Bridge to recall us both from Nidavellir! If you find that we’re risking to bring Asgard into another war, for one reason or the other, you can simply bring us back!”

Heimdall raised an eyebrow, apparently taking this suggestion into consideration. It would imply watching them quite closely, but it could be done…

“And I promise I won’t let any harm come to your sister. I shall protect her with my life if need be,” Loki said solemnly, but his words only earned him Sif’s irritation. She punched him in the shoulder and looked at him indignantly.

“What’s that supposed to mean?! You think I can’t protect myself?!”

“W-wha…? I didn’t say that! I’m just saying that I’m not going to get us in any trouble! And really, I don’t know how much use would your fists and weapons be in a fight against powerful magical dwarves…”

“Oh, well, I’m sure you’ll be much more useful,” Sif said, rolling her eyes and speaking sarcastically. “I’m sure you’d be able to shave those dwarves to death, most certainly…”

“Hey! That’s not all my magic can accomplish and you know it! Don’t underestimate me!”

“Well, then, don’t underestimate ME!”

Heimdall watched the argument with interest, surprised at the way the two children bickered. Sif and Loki weren’t too close, from what he knew… yet this was an argument worthy of best friends, if not more than that. It was a rather curious, the situation these two brought with them…

“I would be far more reassured if I believed you won’t get yourselves into fights of any kind” said Heimdall, at which Sif and Loki froze “If matters don’t proceed as you wish them to, you won’t seek out a fight, will you?”

“Uh… no, we won’t” said Loki, biting his lip.

“We’ll do our best not to cause any trouble, brother,” Sif said. “So… will you let us go?”

Heimdall’s piercing golden gaze was upon them. Sif held his eyes defiantly, just as she would hold anyone else’s gaze. She had nothing to hide from her brother. Yet when Heimdall’s eyes shifted towards Loki, the young prince grimaced slightly. He didn’t like the way this man stared at him. It was as if he didn’t trust him… but why? What was his problem? Maybe Loki was only being paranoid right now, but he sure didn’t like the way Heimdall looked at him. He’d look into other means to travel through realms one day… enduring the man’s questioning wasn’t something he wanted to subject himself to ever again.

“I will watch you both throughout your voyage,” Heimdall said. “And if you do anything that might endanger the safety of the Realms, I will pull you back without warning, just as the Prince has told me to. If you both feel the need to return beforehand, call my name and I shall open the Bifrost for you. If any harm is to come to either of you, you will have to take responsibility for it yourselves. This was your decision, and yours alone.”

“Understood,” said Sif, nodding.

“Very well, then…” said Heimdall, looking at them pointedly before picking up his sword and climbing up the stairs that led to the center of the Observatory.

When Heimdall slid his sword into the device on the ground, white lightning began dancing on the Observatory. Loki watched in awe, surprised by the incredible magical power of the building. Sif wasn’t as amazed as he was, for she was slightly daunted. To Loki’s surprise, her hand gripped his as she waited for the Bifrost to send them away. The system was being charged with power, and Loki saw the lights converging towards  the northern end of the chamber. That was the direction they would be launched towards, then…

He grabbed Sif’s hand tightly, feeling a weak blush appear on his face. So long as he didn’t let go of her hand they would be fine, they wouldn’t be separated by the enormous power of the Rainbow Bridge…

The Bifrost finished its calibrations, it seemed, and Loki and Sif took a deep breath before getting launched into a whirlwind of colors and lights they were witnessing for the first time. It almost felt as though there was a powerful magnet pulling the two of them all the way through space, threatening to shatter them into a million pieces if they attempted to resist the power of the Rainbow Bridge. Naturally, they didn’t resist. All they could do was hold the other’s hand tightly as they waited to be brought to their destination.

The trip ended almost as suddenly as it began, and they both fell to the ground, their hands separating when they reached solid land after such a hectic voyage.

“T-that was… weird,” said Sif, sitting up and looking around her.

“Nothing I had read… prepared me for that,” Loki said, pushing himself up as well. “Well, if anything, we can tell Thor we’ve traveled in the Bifrost and he hasn’t, when we get back.”

“That should annoy him,” said Sif, smirking. Loki looked at her, hoping to smile back reassuringly after having undergone such a trip together, but he found himself looking at her revealed bald head.

“Uh… the trip knocked off your hood,” he said, moving towards her and pulling her hood up again.

“Ah, thanks,” said Sif, smiling at him. “So… where are we?”

“Ummm… well, it’s a given that this is Nidavellir,” said Loki, looking around himself. The sky was dark with swirling clouds, the place they had landed at was rocky, and there was a cave opening right before them. Had Heimdall dropped them here for a reason…?

“There’s nobody nearby,” said Sif, frowning. “So we can’t ask for direc-… Loki?”

“I feel magic coming from here,” Loki said. “Foreign magic. There must be dwarves nearby.”

“Uh… and you think the wisest thing we can do is march inside that cave, just like that?” Sif asked.

“What, are you scared?” Loki asked, smirking at her. “I didn’t expect that coming from…”

“Scared? Who’s scared?!” Sif exclaimed, glaring at him indignantly before leading the way into the dark cave. “Come on, slowpoke, or I’ll leave you behind! Scared. I’ll show you scared…”

Loki chuckled under his breath before following her inside the cave, and he lifted a hand to make a small orb of light so that they could see their way through the cave. Sif slowed down after a moment, letting him catch up to her before resuming their way underground together.

“Heimdall must have dropped us here for a reason,” said Loki. “His eyes see everything… so I take it he must have known just which dwarves could help us. I’m sure he wants us back in Asgard as soon as possible, so he wouldn’t have dropped us at just any random place, would he?”

“I’d hope not…” said Sif, biting her lip. “You really think they can help us, Loki?”

“If anyone can, it’s them,” Loki declared, frowning with determination.

Sif wanted to be reassured by his conviction, but she couldn’t help but feel uneasy. Something about this situation just worried her.

After a long walk, they spotted a red light down below. They followed it diligently, to find themselves, at long last, at the dwarves’ lair. The hall they had arrived into was incredibly spacious and warm, and it was filled with dwarves, who were working in their respective forges, all which gleamed brightly because of the fire that raged within them.

“So these are the dwarves…” said Sif, gulping “But they’re building weapons, Loki. Maybe we’re in the wrong place?”

“They put magic into what they do, that’s why their creations are so strong. They’re not just blacksmiths, they’re sorcerers too,” said Loki, climbing down a staircase that would lead them to where the dwarves were working.

Naturally, they were spotted as they walked, and several dwarves stopped working altogether to watch them. One of them stepped forward, and he waited for Loki and Sif as they arrived to the bottom of the stairs.

“And who are you two? What’s brought you here? Where did you come from?” the dwarf asked, his spiky black hair and beard earning him a look of curiosity from Loki.

“I am Loki, a Prince of Asgard…” he said.

“And I’m Sif. Lady Sif,” Sif said afterwards, almost forgetting her noble title. “Also from Asgard.”

“Not true!” shouted a dwarf. “Asgardians are taller than us!”

“Oh, they’re deceivers!” exclaimed another one, and most the dwarves began muttering amongst themselves as Loki and Sif began panicking.

“No! We’re not deceivers, we’re still children!” Loki exclaimed. “We’re not fully grown, neither of us!”

“Oooooooooh,” was the general exclamation now, and the dwarves seemed far more curious and less wary about them now.

“What brought two Asgardian kids to our forges, then?” asked the first dwarf, raising a bushy eyebrow.

“We have come to request for a favor… if you might be so kind,” said Sif, looking at the dwarf with pleading eyes.

“Uh… uh… well, we don’t really work on favors, ehehe…” said the dwarf, blushing slightly as he took in the sight of the girl’s beautiful face. “But if it is you who requests it, we might just do it! My name is Rokrir, by the way…”

“Nice to meet you,” said Sif, smiling. Loki felt his eyebrow twitching. This dwarf… was he trying to flirt with Sif, really?

“We came to ask something of you dwarves,” Loki said, trying to earn their attention so they would stop leering at Sif. “The lady here had an accident… and well, I was the cause of it, truth to be told. She has lost her hair. We came here because we have heard about the potential of dwarven magic, and we wanted to ask you to please help us restore the hair she has lost.”

“Lost hair?” asked Rokrir, blinking. “Let us see, let us see.”

Sif seemed unwilling to do it at first, but she pulled back her hood and allowed the dwarves to see her bald head. The dwarves seemed impressed by the sight of her, and some approached to have a closer look.

“Oh, my, she hasn’t got a single hair in that head!”

“Impressive! And it’s such a perfectly shaped round head too…”

“Hey!” Loki exclaimed, glaring at them. “Quit it! Will you restore her hair or not?”

“Quiet down, princely Prince,” said Rokrir, looking at Sif with interest. “She looks quite pretty as she is, clean-shaven head and all…”

“Her hair used to be a long curtain of perfect golden curls,” Loki declared. “And given that I made her lose it, I want you to help me restore it, or to provide her with a replacement if the first thing is impossible. Is it too much to ask, Rokrir?”

“Well, too much, you say… hmmm…” said the dwarf. “What’s in it for us, eh?”

“Eh, eh! What’s in it for us?” the other dwarves chorused, to Loki’s astonishment.

“Wha…?”

“You’re a Prince, ey? That’s what you said, ain’t it?” said Rokrir. “You’ve probably got some pretty jewels back home that you could give us here so we can get your girl her pretty hair…”

“What?! D-don’t say that! I’m nobody’s girl!” Sif exclaimed, her face reddening. Loki was too busy wondering how to sort out the matter of payment to notice, though.

“Well, I… I don’t know what need is there for payment,” he said, trying to think quickly. “Especially not when you haven’t even told me if you can do it yet.”

“Huh? Of course we can do it. We can make brand new hair for her,” said Rokrir, and the other dwarves backed him. “Who said we couldn’t? You came here even if you thought we couldn’t?”

“Well, I thought you dwarves would be a good option,” said Loki, tapping his chin. “But there are other places we could visit that might provide us with what we’re looking for. My father will surely be displeased, though, if he believes you dwarves are unwilling to cooperate with his son…”

“Unwilling…? Not unwilling, we just want to be paid,” said the dwarf, stubbornly. “No payment, no hair. And really, what might be the problem? The lady looks just fine to me with her pretty round bald head!”

“You don’t understand…” said Loki, a hand going to his face. “Of course she’s still pretty, but she needs her hair! Sif needs to prove those morons who were making fun of her that she’s better than all of them, and to do that she needs her hair back as it was!”

Sif was quite surprised to hear Loki say she was pretty… other people had said so before, but it wasn’t everyday that she heard the words from Loki’s mouth. Why did it suddenly make her slightly more aware of herself to hear him compliment her like this…?

“I don’t get it,” said Rokrir, looking at Sif. “Is that true or is the princely Prince trying to pull a trick on us?”

“It’s true, good dwarf…” said Sif, lowering her gaze. “I wish to become a warrior, but I’m often mocked by the others for being a girl. I had a mishap in training because of my hair, and they claimed I ought to cut it shorter, because vain girls with long hair would get themselves killed in the battlefield. I wished to prove them wrong, and Loki tried to help me, but… in the end we only made everything worse.”

“Well… the girl speaks more honestly than the boy, I think,” said Rokrir, and the rest of the dwarves nodded in agreement.

“But... I was telling the truth all the same as she was,” Loki said between gritted teeth, glaring at the dwarf. These stupid dwarves had an irritating fascination with Sif… what was it with them? Hadn’t they seen a female Asgardian before?

“Ah, but I like her much better than I like you, stubborn princely Prince,” said Rokrir, smirking. “Very well, very well, you spoke and you made the request… but we’re going to do this for her. Because she has a noble cause!”

“Well, I don’t care why you do it so long as you do,” said Loki, sighing .

“Will you make new hair for me, or will you restore the one I lost?” Sif inquired. “Loki brought what he cut accidentally…”

“No, no, that’s nasty, hair that already fell should stay fallen! We’ll make new hair for you, pretty lady!” Rokrir exclaimed, beaming.

“You’re sure you can do it, though?” Loki asked.

“Aaaaah, you’re speaking to the dwarves that created the Gungnir and also Mjöllnir, you princely Prince!” exclaimed Rokrir. “Have a little more confidence, will you?”

Loki frowned but didn’t reply again. If the dwarves were going to make Sif’s hair, they’d best start doing it quickly. And that they did. Soon enough, a group of dwarves surrounded Sif, and they asked her every possible question they could have about how she wanted her hair.

“How many curls, my lady?”

“And which golden shade would it be? Sun gold, or corn gold? Or like actual gold, is it?!”

“What length should we make it? Oh, well, we can trim it later as she wants it, that’s what we ought to do…”

Sif responded to all questions nervously, even those the dwarves had answered themselves. Loki simply stood at one side, watching cautiously until all dwarves had run off to begin working.

“They seem confident they can make it,” said Sif, walking towards Loki with a smile on her face.

“Yeah, well... let’s hope they can,” muttered Loki, crossing his arms over his chest. “They’d better not make a blunder like I did.”

“Well, if this works out as planned, yours won’t be such a bad blunder, I think,” said Sif. “If you hadn’t shaved my head clean, we wouldn’t have ended up in an adventure like this one… and we wouldn’t have traveled on the Bifrost for the first time.”

“Did you like the trip so much?” Loki asked, surprised. Sif smiled weakly and shook her head.

“Not really. It’s a bit unpleasant…”

“I thought so too,” said Loki, smiling. “There should be easier ways to travel between the realms… ways that won’t require being constantly watched by your brother.”

“He’s likely listening to you right now, you know?” Sif said, with raised eyebrows.

“Whatever I say now surely won’t make him like me any more or any less,” said Loki, shrugging.

“Why are you so negative?” Sif asked, looking at him inquisitively. “If he doesn’t like you…”

“I just don’t need anyone’s approval,” said Loki. “I don’t care if he likes me or not.”

“You’re lying,” Sif said, at which Loki flinched. “You do want approval. All the same as I do.”

“That’s not…”

“There’s nothing wrong with wanting approval, Loki,” said Sif, smiling at him. “Having friends is nice. Being alone can get tiresome at times, don’t you think?”

“But being around people all the time is even more tiresome,” said Loki, grimacing. “Especially when they’re the entire opposite of who you are. And they just keep making fun of everything you like, and shunning you because you’re different…”

“I can’t say I don’t know how that feels,” said Sif, sighing. “I think my case is even more ridiculous than yours… I like the same things most of them do, and yet they keep shutting me off because I’m a girl. It’s really dumb.”

“It is”, said Loki, looking at her sideways. “I’ve never thought any less of you for wanting to be a warrior, if that’s worth anything. I think you’re a great warrior, better than Thor or any of them, even.”

“Thanks,” said Sif, smiling. “Though Thor is the one who is less annoying about it. It’s the others who are ridiculously unpleasant to me just because I’m a girl.”

“Huh, so Thor is good to you…” said Loki, with a hint of bitterness. “No wonder you like him so much, then.”

“Well, yeah. He’s one of my best friends,” Sif said, smiling. “And he’s been supportive.. though at times he’s a moron.”

“That I can agree with,” said Loki, with a smirk.

“You could try to get along better with him, he is your brother,” said Sif, raising an eyebrow.

“Yeah, well… it’s not as easy as it sounds,” said Loki, sighing. “People think it’s easy to be his brother, but it’s not. I’m everything he’s not, and he’s everything they want to see in a prince. So by default, I’m… the odd one out. I get the funny looks, and he gets the praise and admiration of everyone who meets him. I just have to stand back, wondering if they’ll bother looking at me this time around…”

“That’s not so accurate,” said Sif, smirking “I recall a certain occasion when you were pretending to be standing back, yet you were actually composing a terrifying illusion of a big bad wolf…”

“It’s not like I always do that...” said Loki, blushing as she giggled.

“Why did you do it, though?” Sif asked. “I always wondered… what was the point of doing that? What did you expect to accomplish?”

“W-well, I… I just didn’t know who the new guests would be,” Loki muttered, bashful. “And I didn’t really want to host new people. I’m not good with them, and they’re not usually good with me either… I’m sorry for it, though. I didn’t mean to startle you, or to make you jump head-first to defend everyone. I know I shouldn’t have done what I did, no matter who the visitor was… but I regretted it more when I realized my ploy would affect you. I’m sorry…”

“You don’t have to apologize so much about that,” said Sif, smiling. “If it hadn’t been for that occasion, your father wouldn’t have asked mine to allow me to train as a warrior even when I was a girl. If anything, I owe you for what you did.”

“Uh… really?” Loki said, surprised. “You think so?”

“Yeah, I do,” said Sif, smiling kindly at him before lowering her head. “And I guess… I’m the one who owes you an apology. I’m sorry for all the times I’ve kept distance from you just because the others do. I guess I wanted everyone’s approval, as I said, but I shouldn’t earn it at the expenses of someone else, let alone someone like you. I’m sorry for the times I’ve dismissed your magic…”

“Well, I guess you have an excuse to dismiss it, if anyone does…” said Loki, shrugging.

“No, I don’t think I do,” said Sif, shaking her head. “You’re great at it, Loki. I asked you to use a spell you had never used before and I expected you to do it flawlessly… it was unfair of me. You’re a very skilled sorcerer, Loki. If I ever become as good a fighter as you are a magician…”

“You already are a better fighter than I am a magician,” said Loki, with a weak smile. Sif responded in kind. It was quite unusual to get him to smile… and he sure could use smiling more often.

“That’s very nice of you, Loki,” said Sif, and Loki blushed a bit.

“Well, it’s the truth,” he said, shrugging carelessly yet blushing all the same. Sif chuckled a little before grabbing him by the wrist and pulling him towards the forges. “W-what are you…?”

“I want to see how they do it,” Sif said, beaming enthusiastically. “Come on, Loki.”

It wasn’t every day that someone would want him to come along for anything, Loki noted. Let alone would it be Sif who wanted his company… she always surrounded herself with those who could help her become a stronger warrior, and he definitely didn’t fill said requirements. He was everything she never wanted to be, he was sure of it, and yet she smiled at him and pointed at the blazing fire the dwarven smiths were using to manufacture weapons and armor of all sorts.

“Look at what he’s doing!” Sif exclaimed excitedly, when a dwarf wove a spell on raw metal before beginning the process of hammering it and molding it to his needs. “Do you know he did?”

“It’s a protective spell,” Loki explained, smiling. “They cast it while forging so that the metal will endure the process without decaying, and then they cast the second part of it once the blade has been finished, so that it won’t shatter when it’s used.”

“Is that so?” said Sif, intrigued.

“Dwarven steel is not the best for no reason, young lady!” exclaimed the dwarf they had been watching, “One day you might come to appreciate its fine wonders!”

“I truly hope I’ll have a chance to do that,” said Sif, smiling. “I would very much like a dwarven blade of some sort…”

“Well, I’m pretty sure Rokrir would be more than happy to make one for you,” Loki said, raising his eyebrows innocently. “Given how much he seems to like you…”

“What is that? Are you jealous for some reason, Loki?” Sif asked, surprised.

“Jealous of what?” Loki retorted, walking off towards another forge, and Sif followed him, smirking with amusement.

“Play innocent all you want, you know what I’m talking about,” Sif said, proudly. “You wish you could make my hair and blade all by yourself like he can!”

Loki actually blinked at that. Was that why Sif thought he’d be jealous…? Either the girl was too innocent or she was trying to coax out the truth out of him through mocking him like this…

“Well, given a few years of advanced study of magic, I just might be able to do more than that,” said Loki, proudly. “You’ve said so, I’m a very good sorcerer, and I will learn all kinds of magic one day!”

“And I will be Asgard’s best warrior by then,” Sif stated proudly.

“Is that a challenge?” Loki asked, surprised.

“No… I guess it’s a promise,” Sif said, smiling at him. Again, the Prince blushed.

They spent the rest of their time in the cave looking at all forges, and Sif enjoyed herself by testing some of the weapons the dwarves had just made. She found herself quite interested in a double sword the dwarves had just finished, a glaive with the brightest steel she had ever seen.

“It’s too big for you right now,” said the dwarf who had made it. “Maybe in a few decades, when you’re older and larger like the other asgardians, you’ll be able to handle it properly.”

“I wish,” said Sif, smiling as she gripped the hilt with some difficulty. “It’s quite heavy…”

“You’ll be able to hold it just fine one day” Loki reassured her, and Sif smiled at him again.

Loki found himself gaining more knowledge than he could ever obtain through books thanks to this journey. Several dwarves showed him spells that hadn’t been recorded in the volume he had been reading, and he thoroughly enjoyed studying their magic first-hand. Sif didn’t quite understand most the spells the dwarves would cast, let alone when they would speak in a foreign language to cast them, but she enjoyed the sight both of the magic and the look of eagerness on her companion’s face whenever he saw the dwarves performing spells he hadn’t seen ever before.

After a few hours of waiting, and after an odd meal comprised only of dry bread and water, Loki and Sif had been sitting together, dozing off, at one of the hall’s corners when Rokrir came for them. He raised one of his bushy eyebrows upon the sight of the sleeping children, amused by how her head was lying on his shoulder, while his was atop hers. The Prince’s black hair could have been coming out of either of their heads, it seemed to Rokrir, on that position they were in…

“Say, Thark?” Rokrir called one of his helpers, who raised an eyebrow. “You said it was finished, aye?”

“It is. Weren’t you about to wake ‘em up?” Thark replied.

“Well, I just realized it isn’t really done just yet…” said Rokrir, smirking as he turned towards their still warm creation, his hands sparkling with magic…

* * *

Loki was surprised to be woken by a large hand on his shoulder. He grimaced as he opened his eyes, confused over who was waking him. It couldn’t be his mother, she would always do it kindly and her hand didn’t feel like that…

“Up, up, sleeping tiny asgardians! Your request has been finished!” exclaimed a dwarf, shaking both Loki and Sif with one hand each.

Sif woke faster than Loki, and she sprung to her feet when she realized her hair was done. Loki struggled to stand up, and he looked at her in confusion as he remembered what had happened.

“It’s done?” Sif asked, her eyes gleaming with expectation. “My hair…”

“It’s all right here, pretty lady!” Rokrir exclaimed, smiling. “We just gotta attach it to your pretty head and that’s that!”

Sif’s eyes shone upon those words. She turned to find a dwarf holding a set of long locks of golden hair in his arms, and she felt her heart thump in her chest as she stared at them eagerly, waiting for them to attach her new hair.

“How exactly will this work?” Loki asked now, frowning. “Will her hair still grow out as it normally would?”

“This hair will replace her old one completely once we attach it to her head,” said Rokrir. “And yes, it’ll grow out like any other hair would. Stop worrying, princely Prince. We know what we’re doing”

Loki gulped and nodded, having no other choice but to trust the dwarves. It made no sense to be suspicious of them now, after they had taken time out of their lives to make Sif’s new hair… but there was something fishy about the dwarves right now. Try as he might, he couldn’t quite figure out what it was, but he felt uneasy. This had better work as they promised it would…

Sif stood amongst the dwarves as they began casting spells around her. She bit her lip nervously when the dwarf carrying the hair lifted it and dropped it graciously on her scalp. A cloud of golden dust surrounded the dwarves and Sif, and Loki stared nervously at them, hoping the dust would clear away so he could see if the magic had worked properly…

The cloud began to dissipate slowly, and the dwarves stepped away. They made sounds of awe and amazement, yet Loki’s sense of dread hadn’t decreased in the slightest… if anything, it had increased exponentially. There was something distinctly dark within the fading gold… and there shouldn’t be anything so dark there. What was…?

Loki’s eyes widened and he stared in horror as Sif took a lock of hair in her eyes… a lock of dark, black hair.

“N-no… no, no!” Loki exclaimed, surprising everyone, even Sif. “That’s not how it was! That’s not the color…! What did you do?! I told you a million times her hair was gold! Gold like the sun, gold like the precious stones you dwarves love so much! How come is it black?! What did you do?!”

“Wait, wait, calm down, princely Prince!” exclaimed Rokrir, grimacing. “There’s no need to be so angry!”

“Yes, there is!” Loki shouted, glaring at the dwarf. “I told you! I said so, she said so, everyone knew it was gold! You told me you knew how to do this! You said you could give her the hair she needed! You told us you could do it! Why did you do it wrong?!”

“Now, now, young man, not all magic is as easy to control as it may seem…” said another dwarf, trying to calm him down.

“But you’re supposed to know what you’re doing, you’re dwarves!” Loki said, his hands going to his hair. “Can you fix it?! Can you turn it gold again?!”

“Uh, we could try, I suppose,” said Rokrir, though he looked displeased by the idea.

“Then try!” Loki said, desperate. He turned towards Sif, who was still looking at her hair. “Sif, I… I’m so sorry. I keep messing up, I thought they could do it, but… I’m sorry, I’ll make it blonde again, just as it should be!”

Sif’s fingers played with the dark hair, her eyebrows arched. Loki stared in utter horror, for even her eyebrows had turned black now. What had those wretched dwarves done? What sort of dark spell had they cast upon her?

“Sif, are you alright…? Sif…?” he said, worried when he got no response from her.

Suddenly, though, she lifted her head and smiled at him. Loki blinked in utter confusion at that.

“I’m fine, Loki. I… I’m fine” she said, looking at her new black hair with interest again.

“I’ll fix this, you heard me? I’ll… I’ll do anything to get your hair back to how it was, I promise to you I…”

“You know… you don’t have to,” Sif said, smiling as she ran her hands through her hair and giggled. “You don’t need to worry so much, Loki. It’s… it’s good like this. It actually is.”

“W-what…? But… y-your hair was gold,” Loki said, completely confused.

“Yeah, well… maybe I like black better than blond,” Sif told him, with a proud smile on her face.

Loki’s cheeks flushed instantly at that. She was talking about her hair only, most certainly, she couldn’t mean anything else… but she laughed at his reaction, and so did all the nearby dwarves who had heard her dismiss his concerns so easily. But for once, Loki couldn’t find it in him to feel insulted by their laughter. He gawked at her in disbelief, still wondering on how many levels did Sif prefer black over blond… everyone in Asgard had blond hair, or auburn. He was a rarity, with his dark black hair that was only another of the many traits that set him apart from everyone else…

And Sif was actually choosing to set herself apart from the others along with him. She liked black better, she said. They had talked earlier about being different from all others, about how they were almost outcasts within their group of peers… would her new black hair stand as proof of her being like him? Of the two of them being kindred spirits? The thought made Loki blush harder still. Sif had always fascinated him, but they hadn’t been too close until this crazy event. He had always admired her from afar, thinking she was the most beautiful and brave person he knew. She had always spent most her time with Thor, though… but today she was choosing black over blond. Did it mean… could it mean she was choosing Loki over Thor? Would she be the first person to do such a thing?

The dwarves smacked Loki on the back, and he could only keep flushing as he stared at Sif bashfully. She was laughing as the dwarves asked her if she approved of their particular brand of hair, and she nodded quite enthusiastically, saying it was wonderful. And she kept smiling at him every now and then, at which he could only lower his head, feeling too aware of himself all of sudden.

As he looked up again, he found her laughing still. The look on her face, and the way her brand new black hair fell on her shoulders, made her all the more beautiful for him today, more beautiful than ever.

It was in that moment that Loki knew it. A weak smile appeared on his face as he finally understood it. It was as if he had suddenly opened up a box, unsure of what he would find inside it… yet once he had lifted its lid, he had discovered he had known what the content was all along. He just had been too foolish to see it before.   
_ So that’s what this feeling was, then…  _ Loki thought to himself, his smile widening as he accepted the truth of what he felt for the young warrior who walked up to him, telling him it was time for them to go home  _ … I’m in love with her. _


	3. Age 13

“Sif, come on!” Fandral exclaimed, frowning. “Afternoon training is about to start!”

Sif sighed and looked at her friend, her eyebrows furrowed.

“I’ll be there in a minute!” she exclaimed.

“It’s your problem if everyone else gets the better training weapons!” Fandral teased, before turning around and running off towards the training area.

Sif rolled her eyes and looked at her companion, who raised an eyebrow when he felt her gaze upon him. He lifted his eyes from the book he was reading, and he looked down at Sif.

Loki was sitting on a windowsill in a Palace hallway, a habit that had become quite recurrent in him as of late. He was acting even more oddly than usual lately, Sif noted… and that was saying a lot for Loki. Not long ago, he had been a troublemaker, yet an innocent one at that. He had wanted people’s approval, despite claiming he really didn’t need it, and he had been quite a nervous and bashful boy…

But during the past few months he had become aloof, and he would look down on most people who approached him. Not Sif, of course, never Sif, But he wasn’t as warm towards her as he used to be. His choice of clothes was no longer green, gold and grey, and the hair Frigga had always combed for him was now brushed back completely. And that, for some reason, provided him with a mysterious aura of sorts… and Sif found she didn’t mind this new, mysterious Loki so much, for his newly found fashion style suited him quite well. She couldn’t help but wonder what had brought this about, truth to be told, but she genuinely liked it.

“Are you going to stand there looking at me?” Loki asked, raising his eyebrows. “Fandral said he would take all the good weapons for himself. You probably ought to catch up or else he’ll actually do it.”

“I don’t need the best weapons to give that fool a beating, if that’s what you thought,” Sif said, and Loki smirked.

“Well, I can’t say I’m surprised to hear that,” he said. “But don’t you think you ought to follow him anyways?”

“Why so eager to get rid of me?” Sif asked, leaning against the hallway’s wall and looking at Loki with inquisitive eyes. The look she gave him was hard enough to startle him and turn him again into the bashful boy he had been before that sudden drastic change of demeanor he had undergone.

“I’m not… I’m not eager to get rid of you, I just thought you’d rather go beat people up than to watch me read.” Loki muttered.

“Well, I can’t deny beating people up is a lot more fun than standing here doing nothing,” said Sif, sighing. “But this is pretty much the only time of the day I can come talk to you, isn’t it? You’re always sleeping in and then you run off and lock yourself up in some secret chamber of yours to practice your magic… so if I’m to spend any time with you, it has to be now.”

“Well… I do appreciate that you enjoy my company,” Loki said, and Sif gave him one of her distrustful looks. “Really! I’m not lying about it!”

“As if,” said Sif, with a small pout. “You were telling me to run off with Fandral just now… if you want to be alone you can say so. I won’t take offense.”

“Surely you won’t, because you’re already offended” muttered Loki, grimacing. “Is there anything you want to talk to me about, though? Why so eager to spend time with me?”

“Why should I need a reason to spend time with a friend?” Sif asked, raising an eyebrow. “Must you question everyone and everything, Loki?”

“Well… I just thought maybe you had something to say,” Loki muttered, gulping. “Is anyone bothering you? Are you getting trouble because you spend too much time with me?”

“If that were the case, would I end up spending more time with you?” Sif asked.

“It’s you we’re talking about, so yes, you would,” said Loki, at which she smiled. “Every time someone makes fun of you or challenges you in one way or another, you take up that challenge just to prove yourself. So well? Is that it?”

“It’s just… annoying,” Sif said, sighing in resignation. “I don’t know why do most of them think that by insulting me they’ll beat me in fights. Maybe they just enjoy getting me to react angrily whenever they criticize me or you…”

“Wait, they criticize me to get to you?” Loki asked, raising an eyebrow.

“Well, you’re my friend,” said Sif. “And nobody would stand idly by while he hears how others slander his friends. If they spoke ill of Thor or Fandral I’d defend them too.”

“So it’s not Thor and Fandral who do it, then?” Loki asked.

“Of course not,” said Sif. “Fandral just pesters me personally in hopes to make me lose focus when he fights me. Thor doesn’t do that sort of thing, he’d rather just get down to the fight and forget everything else.”

“Then it’s the rest of the trainees,” Loki muttered. “Well, I’ve always known I’m anything but popular.”

“You could get them to shut up about you, though,” said Sif. “They always say you don’t train with us because you’re physically incapable of wielding a weapon of any sort. You could come with me today, train with me, so that they see they’re wrong about the things they say about you.”

“Huh? Going there will just make them even more obnoxious than they already are,” said Loki, shaking his head. “They’ll make fun of me for trying to prove them wrong…”

“Well, if they do, I’ll knock them out cold,” Sif said, stubbornly. Loki couldn’t help but smirk.

“I’m quite surprised, I’ll say. You’re unexpectedly concerned about what people will say about me… why?”

“Well… because they’re wrong about you, that’s why,” Sif said. “They like saying nonsense about people without knowing anything about them. And if they want to make fun of you for using magic instead of weapons, well, maybe you ought to show them just how much damage you can deal them by using your magic. They might grow to respect you if you do.”

“They wouldn’t respect me any more than they do now,” said Loki .“They’d fear me… which isn’t a bad thing anyways. But that wouldn’t make them shut up about me. It just might make everything worse.”

Sif sighed and looked at him worriedly. She was sure they wouldn’t be so mean to Loki if only they knew him better… but she might be wrong. And it wasn’t as if she knew him all that well anyways… as of late she felt drawn to him, yet ever since he had donned his dark attire, he had begun behaving more mysteriously than ever. And the closer she wanted to be to him, the farther she felt he really was…

“Are you serious about that?” she asked. “Or are you just making up excuses because you want to read your book?”

“Well, truthfully, you’re being quite insistent about that and you haven’t let me read…” said Loki, with a twitching eyebrow as his eyes went back to the story he had been reading.

“What is it about?” Sif asked, looking at him with interest.

“Why do you ask?” Loki said, raising his eyes again.

“Just wondering,” said Sif, shrugging.

“You’re going to tell me that reading my book surely won’t be more fun than training, aren’t you?” Loki said, raising an eyebrow.

“Ah, it was you who said it, not me…” Sif said innocently, but a smirk betrayed her true intentions.

“How would you know if the book isn’t better than training if you haven’t read it? Hell, have you ever even finished a book in your life?” Loki asked, earning himself a glare.

“Of course I have!” Sif exclaimed, indignant. “Yeah, maybe I don’t spend every waking moment drying out my eyes with those old, dusty books you love so much, but that doesn’t mean I haven’t read anything in my life!”

“What’s the last book you finished, then?” Loki asked, snickering. “Do tell, oh, wise warrior Sif…”

“Y-you… shut up!” Sif exclaimed, angrily. “When was the last time you defeated someone in battle, huh?!”

“What does that have to do with anything? I thought we were already past that pointless subject...” said Loki, grimacing.

“If you’re going to judge me for not reading, then I’ll judge you for not fighting!” Sif declared.

“Right…” said Loki, looking at Sif with irritation.

“And really… we’re friends. We shouldn’t judge each other,” Sif stated, frowning. “So… how about we do something to resolve this predicament?”

“What predicament?”

“You know, our weaknesses. You need to fight, I need to read. So… let’s do something about that!”

“How?” asked Loki, dumbfounded.

“You come down to train with me,” said Sif, smiling. “And once that’s done, we can read your book together!”

“Uh... you can’t read this,” said Loki, sighing. “It’s written in ancient elvish. Can you read ancient elvish?”

“Well, then, you’ll read it aloud for me,” Sif said, shrugging. “I’ll still grasp the same knowledge you will if you do that, won’t I?”

“B-but…”

“That’s settled, then!” Sif exclaimed, grabbing him by the arm and pulling him off the windowsill. “Come on, Loki! Time to train!”

“B-but I don’t want to train!” Loki squealed, but it was too late and he knew it. Once the young Lady Sif had an idea in her head, it would be impossible to convince her to change her mind.

Every trainee was surprised to see Loki in the training grounds. Well, truthfully, Loki himself was still surprised to be there, and he looked at everyone apprehensively as they stared back at him with confusion. Sif didn’t pay the others any attention, though, for she went straight towards the stack of weapons, but all she found by then were daggers.

“I told you all the good weapons would be taken,” said Fandral cockily, smirking at her before leaning down to speak in her ear. “Why is our resident dark prince here, though? I thought he had more reading to do, given he’s so superior to all of us and he needn’t train…”

“I dragged him here,” Sif said, checking the available daggers. “We’ve struck an arrangement for mutual benefits. I shall read more, he shall train more. Simple as that.”

“Why does it look like you’re the only one who struck it, though…?” asked Fandral, with a weak smile as he looked at Loki, who kept glaring at the people around him, who were starting to glare back.

Sif frowned when she saw one of the Asgardian boys seemed to be about to taunt Loki. He approached with a snide attitude, and he was about to open his mouth when someone else patted Loki hard on the back.

“HA! Brother, I just knew you’d join us all one day!” Thor exclaimed proudly, at which Loki glared at him. “You’re too smart not to understand you need to learn how to defend yourself with steel and strength!”

“Huh… sure thing,” said Loki, slightly irritated. “Though I suppose you won’t be trying out magic any time soon, will you?”

“Ah, you know I’m no good for it,” said Thor, chuckling. Clearly, he was beyond excited to see Loki was here. For many years he had tried to bring Loki down to the training grounds, and he had never succeeded. “But you can be a good fighter, you’ll see! Sif, hand over some daggers for my brother! He’ll do great in the battlefield if we help him learn how to fight for himself!”

Sif smiled and complied, and soon enough Loki was holding a set of daggers on his hands, while Thor, Sif and Fandral looked at him with interest.

“Ready to fight, then?” Fandral asked, smirking. “Should I go first?”

“You’re just going to try and embarrass him, aren’t you?” Sif asked, glaring at him.

“I shall spar with my brother first, my friends,” said Thor, beaming. “Come on, Loki! Let us do this!”

Loki grimaced and looked at Sif, who simply smiled encouragingly at him. If he ended up with a body covered in blisters and bruises after this, he’d make her take responsibility for it…

And responsibility she took, for only a few hours later they were in the Palace’s gardens, sitting underneath a tree while he whined about every blow he had received.

“You knew I’d end up like this! Why did you do it, Sif?!” he exclaimed, as she dabbed some of his wounds with the ointments she’d often use on hers.

“Well, because… I thought it would be fun,” said Sif, shrugging. “You’re always watching us train from afar, Loki, I’ve seen you. Maybe you wouldn’t have to stand so far away if I asked you to join us…”

“And what’s wrong with standing far away?” Loki grunted, eyebrows twitching. “That way you don’t get beaten around by your irksome brother or your alleged best friend…”

“Alleged?! Hey, now, that’s not fair!” Sif exclaimed, glaring at him. Loki simply pouted childishly.

“A best friend wouldn’t send their friend to a fighting pit just like that…”

“Indeed, because, a best friend should be the only one to beat the other up black and blue,” Sif said, stubbornly. “Next time I’ll be the only one beating you up, to see how you like it better.”

“I don’t like it at all, so how would I like it better if it’s just you?!” Loki squeaked. “I’m no good at close-quarter combat, simple as that!”

“And you’re good at other kinds of combat?” Sif asked, raising an eyebrow.

“Of course I am. I’m… I’m a good archer,” Loki muttered, blushing. “And I’m an even better sorcerer, you know that.”

“You’re a good archer?” Sif repeated. “I didn’t know that. Why don’t you practice with a bow more often? I haven’t see you do that...”

“Well, because… I don’t feel like it, is all,” Loki said, stubbornly. “I have better things to do than to shoot arrows all day long.”

“Well, you don’t have to do it all day long,” said Sif, smiling. “I actually don’t know much about archery myself. I should learn, though… we’ll be fit to make our own hunting trips soon enough. I’ll need to be better at archery by then if I mean to catch something…”

“Archery isn’t the only way to capture prey…” said Loki, but he shrugged. “Well, I guess I could teach you… though, wait, I won’t because you’ve dragged me to training with the warriors just to beat me up. So I guess not.”

“Hey, don’t be so mean!” Sif exclaimed, punching his shoulder.

“OW! See what I mean?!” Loki squeaked, glaring at her only for them to enter a short-lived glaring contest.

“But… hey, the book,” Sif said, “You were going to read it for me, weren’t you?”

“I… I was,” said Loki, biting his lip. “I suppose that’s what we agreed to. But I honestly don’t want to…”

“Stop being so whiny,” said Sif, crossing her arms over her chest. “You accepted this, so just do it already”

“I didn’t accept it, you just dragged me through it out of your own accord!” Loki exclaimed.

“Ah, I’m finally giving you a chance to read and you’re not taking it?!” said Sif, looking at him with disbelief. “Well, then, if you want we can go train again, I’m sure nobody will mind if I ask them to keep the training grounds open a little longer…”

“No, no, no! Anything but that!” Loki said, shaking his head promptly.

“Then do it. Read,” Sif said, earning herself a scowl from her friend.

“Why are you giving me orders? I’m a Prince, you know? If anyone should be giving orders here it should be…!”

“Read, I said!”

And with that, the young Prince found himself reading indeed. He didn’t want to get punched by her again, and she was surprisingly authoritarian, he had just discovered. He opened the book at the page he had left it on, and he began translating what it said, so that she’d understand it…

“Hey, that’s not right,” Sif said.

“What do you mean that’s not right?” Loki grunted. “I’m reading it, as you told me! And if you don’t trust my translation…!”

“No, no, I mean, if you read from where you left off, I won’t understand anything,” said Sif. “You have to start from the start.”

“B-but I’m almost done and it’s a thousand pages!” Loki exclaimed, aghast. “You won’t let me read the end, and you’ll have me read everything all over again?!”

Sif seemed to think about it briefly before smiling and him and nodding enthusiastically.

“Yup, that’s what I’ll have you do. You don’t mind, do you? Since you love reading oh, so dearly…”

“Sif…” Loki grunted, an eyebrow twitching. “You’re seriously trying to annoy me today, aren’t you?”

“Now, don’t take everything to heart, Loki!” Sif said, laughing. “Well, fine, if you want to read off from where you are, it’s okay. The next book you read, you’ll read it to me from scratch, won’t you?”

“T-the next?” Loki asked. “What do you mean, the next?”

“You didn’t expect this to be a one-time thing, did you, Loki?” Sif asked, raising her eyebrows. “No, no. We’re going to do this from now on! This shall be our new routine!”

“... But there’s no time for me to practice magic with this new routine,” Loki said, grimacing. “I don’t like this.”

“Well, you could always practice after dinner,” said Sif, shrugging. “The night will still be young by then, don’t you think?”

Loki took a deep breath and sighed. Maybe she was right… maybe that could work. And truly, this routine meant seeing a lot more of Sif than he usually did. Perhaps he’d end up in bad shape after so much training, but that was nothing a healing stone couldn’t fix. So… this was actually a good thing. And it was an even better thing considering she had been the one who had demanded his presence. She wanted to be around him…

He bit his lower lip before letting the pages of the book flutter, and he began reading anew.

“‘In the vast wooded lands of Alfheim lived the elves of old, our current legends these elves foretold…”

“Wait, that’s not what you were reading be-... you started over?!” Sif exclaimed, surprised. “B-but I told you to keep going from where you were!”

“I just thought… if we’re going to do this from now on, it’s better if you understand what I’m reading indeed,” said Loki, flushing a little. “I don’t mind anyways. Patience is a virtue.”

“Loki…” Sif said, and Loki just ignored her so that he could continue speaking about elves, to her surprise.

She smiled and leaned back on the tree they had been sitting under, her shoulder against his. She gazed over towards the book and confirmed she didn’t understand any of the scribbles written on the book… but Loki would tell her the content anyways. And with that, she would be happy. She really didn’t know what had gotten into her lately, what this urge to spend more time than usual with him was… but she was thoroughly enjoying this so far. Hopefully she would continue to enjoy it, for as long as this new routine of theirs lasted.


	4. Age 16

“I yield! I yield, I said!”

“Oh? Do you, now?”

“I just said so, didn’t I?! Get that thing away from me!”

Loki smirked as he pocketed his dagger again. The warrior he had just reduced was just another of the fools who had dared defy him and claim Loki was only proficient with magic. But after spending the past few years learning more about the art of fighting than he could ever learn from books, Loki had no problem showing the proud fool just how much of a fool he really was.

He had pinned the warrior to a tree, his daggers slashing through his clothes and digging into the wood, rendering the warrior unable to fight back. Loki had been holding a dagger to his opponent’s neck, and he withdrew it only when the man had surrendered.

“So… am I still a mere cheating sorcerer, was it?” Loki said. “To think a cheating sorcerer can defeat you so easily… you ought to be ashamed of yourself, Ralgor. No warrior should fall before a magician who wasn’t even using magic to win this fight.”

Ralgor glared, and Loki kept smirking. It was ridiculously fun to keep him there, stuck to that tree, looking at him with despair. He refused to ask Loki to release him, his pride wouldn’t let him, but Loki meant to savor his victory as much as he could…

“Well?” Loki said, with raised eyebrows.

“Loki, quit it already,” said a familiar voice, the voice of that one person who would usually succeed at making Asgard’s renowned Trickster behave himself. “Let him go, he already learned his lesson.”

“Ah, but look at how he’s glaring at me…” said Loki. “I don’t think he’s learned anything at all.”

“That’s his problem, then,” Sif said, approaching and taking down the daggers with quick movements.

Ralgor scrambled off immediately, without turning back to send another glare Loki’s way. He reached his group of friends, who mocked him for his pathetic loss against Asgard’s Second Prince, and they left without another word.

“Ah, brother, as ruthless and cunning as ever,” said Thor, approaching Loki and smacking him on the back, as always. Loki smirked a little at that. “You do make a fearsome enemy for anyone who dares oppose you.”

“Fearsome indeed, though quite short-tempered when he’s been slighted,” Fandral said, smirking. “I suppose we ought to beware displeasing you, shouldn’t we?”

“You may beware my displeasure all you like, Fandral, we all know you’ll earn it anyways,” Loki said, with a smile.

“Not true, I do value my safety quite a lot, I’ll have you know,” Fandral declared, proudly.

“Most certainly, you do,” Loki said, sarcastically.

“Ah, it’s good for all of us to be in such good terms now, isn’t it?” Thor exclaimed, throwing his arms around Fandral and Loki as Sif simply smiled at them. “Remember those times when Loki wouldn’t join us for training? But look at him now, one of the best in the training grounds, no less! Now he’s one of us!”

“Please, don’t lump us together in the same group,” Loki grunted between gritted teeth, but his brother ignored him completely as he squeezed harder.

“Prince… Prince Thor!” exclaimed someone, a palace servant who was running towards them.

“What is…?” Thor said, raising an eyebrow before growing pale.  “Oh… uh-oh.”

“What’s the matter, Thor?” Sif asked, surprised by his unusual reaction upon seeing a servant.

“My father told me this morning that he would require me for later… I didn’t pay much attention, it was something about Vanaheim, but I’d forgotten about it until now,” said Thor, releasing his friend and brother from his grip. “I suppose I’ll see you all later!”

Thor bolted off towards the servant, who ushered him to hurry. The All-Father wasn’t too patient a man, let alone when his older son ignored his commands, even if it was only by accident. 

“Well, then, I’m off to find something to eat, if you don’t mind…” said Fandral, stretching. “It’s been a lot of exercising for today. Perhaps you would like to come along, Lady Sif? I would ask Loki, but I can already foresee his answer…”

“Why, when did you become a seer, Fandral?” Loki asked, looking at him with interest.

“You’re just a bit more predictable than you wish you were, Trickster Loki,” said Fandral, earning himself a glare.

“No need to argue, you fools,” said Sif, sighing. Ever since Loki had began spending more time with them, Fandral and Loki’s strange rivalry had only increased. She never understood what the nature of their enmity was, but she sure didn’t care for discovering it right now. “I’ll train some more, Fandral. Enjoy your meal. I might join you later, perhaps.”

“Very well, then,” said Fandral, with an exaggerated bow. “I’ll see you both later, Prince of Doom, Beautiful and Fearsome Lady Sif.”

“Prince of Doom… can’t he come up with anything better?” said Loki, glaring at Fandral as he walked away.

“Well, Fandral isn’t renowned for his creativity, is he?” said Sif, smirking.

“So… are you truly going to train more? Or is it reading time already?” Loki asked, trying not to give away just how eager he was for it to be reading time indeed.

“I thought… I thought you could give me a lesson on something other than books for a change,” Sif said, and Loki found himself looking at her with curiosity. Was she nervous to ask something of him?

“Well, do tell what that lesson would be, lady Sif,” he said. “I’m yours to command.”

“Are you, now?” Sif asked, raising an eyebrow and looking at him with curiosity.

“I thought you knew as much,” said Loki, with a smile. “You don’t believe me?”

“There’s this tone you use when you say those things…” said Sif, shaking her head. “I don’t know what it is exactly, but it makes it sound as if you were mocking me.”

“Mock you? Why, I would never…”

“Aha, there it is,” said Sif, and Loki froze.

“Why… I suppose it’s because I have picked up on how to speak to noblemen and the sort,” Loki said, grimacing. “Do excuse me if it offends you.”

“It doesn’t quite offend me… but it makes me want to punch you, that’s what it does,” Sif said, smirking.

“Well, there’s no need for that,” said Loki, flinching. She already punched him enough as it was. “What did you wish to learn from me, Sif?”

“I think you might recall… that I told you I have yet to learn archery,” Sif said. “There’s a hunting trip coming up in a few months… I was asked to join, and I had best know how to use a bow and arrow by the time the appointed date for that hunt arrives. So, would you mind teaching me what you know?”

“You expect to master archery in a matter of weeks?” Loki asked, raising his eyebrows.

“Why, do you believe me incapable of such a feat?” Sif asked, at which he chuckled.

“You, incapable? Most certainly anything but that,” he said, smiling. “Very well, then.”

Loki led Sif to the Palace’s archery range, a wide field with trimmed grass where an assortment of targets awaited them. She was hardly surprised when he materialized his bow, quiver and arrows out of nowhere, for she was quite familiar with his magic tricks by now.

“Well, then, shall we?” Loki said, handing the weapon to Sif. “Let’s see how you do it.”

“You won’t instruct me?” Sif asked, as she took the bow.

“You’re quite an intuitive warrior… I’d like to see how you do it without any guidance, to begin with.” Loki said, smiling.

Sif raised an eyebrow before taking an arrow and placing it on the bow. She pulled the string back, struggling to keep the arrow in place as she did. Loki watched her with amusement, to Sif’s irritation.

“Hilarious, isn’t it?” she exclaimed, releasing the arrow angrily only for it to soar momentarily before it sank in the ground, only a few feet away from the target.

“Not as much as you’d think, you actually did quite well for a first attempt,” said Loki, smiling. “Most people end up dropping the arrow or hitting themselves with the bow…”

“Oh, most people, but surely not you, am I right?” Sif asked, raising her eyebrows.

“Most certainly not me,” Loki said, smirking. “You will want to hold the bow differently, though…”

Sif was about to ask him for proper instruction when she felt his hands grasping hers. He shifted so he would stand behind her, and with his fingers he changed her positioning far more gently than Sif had expected him to.

Well, none of this was any of what she had expected it to be. She thought he would give her indications to point her in the right direction: she didn’t expect him to literally show her how it was done. And Loki had always been so bashful when it came to touching her, so how come was he doing this without stuttering or shivering? Oh, no, he actually was shivering, it seemed. Though upon further reflection, the one who was shivering actually was her.

“You’ll want to… to aim a little higher than that,” Loki said, biting his lip as his gaze flickered towards Sif. He had no idea what had gotten into him… but teasing her over her inexperience with archery had been too appealing a perspective to let this opportunity pass him by. Still, now that he stood so close to her he couldn’t help but feel nervous: maybe he was taking this too far. Yet, if he was, why wasn’t she pushing him away? She could stomp on his foot with her heel, if she wanted to… but she did nothing. She simply gripped the bow and arrow tighter, looking even more tense than he felt right now.

“Is this any better?” Sif said, gulping. Loki forced himself to focus again at that.

“Well, if you want the arrow to slip off your hand you might want to keep holding it like that...”

“If yours wasn’t on it as well it might be easier for me to hold it, you know?”

“If mine wasn’t on it you would have dropped the arrow altogether,” Loki whispered.

“You really…” said Sif, gritting her teeth and shaking her head. Loki smirked before getting Sif to lift the bow a little higher.

“Think of the trajectory of the arrow, picture it in your head, Sif,” he said. “And then…”

He released the arrow, and pulled her hand away with his. The projectile soared through the air and struck one of the targets, slightly off-center.

“Well, you could do better than that, I take it,” Loki said, before stepping away from Sif and releasing her hands.

“I could, perhaps, if you stopped being inappropriate,” Sif said, determinedly, and Loki smirked.

“Oh? So I’m making you lose focus, Lady Sif? Your old friend Loki? And why would that be?”

“Because you’re acting crazy today, that’s why,” Sif exclaimed, nocking another arrow to the bow before releasing it swiftly, following Loki’s advice.

The arrow wasn’t as close to the center this time, but it managed to land on the target. Loki was quite impressed by that.

“Why, maybe if you manage to focus you’ll be able to get a bullseye next, Sif,” he said, smirking. “Though I guess you can’t focus if you’re that busy worrying about my crazy behavior…”

“What is it with you today?” Sif asked, looking at him in confusion. “Did something happen to you?”

“W-well, I just…” Loki muttered, before falling silent. “Not really. I only… thought it would be the best way to teach you.”

“Surely you did,” said Sif, frowning as she identified his lie with ease. 

The only reason why he wouldn’t admit the truth was because he feared she’d think lowly of him if he did… or because the truth was too embarrassing. He wanted to be close to her, was it? Well, he was close to her. Closer than any of the other boys their age. So what was he striving for now?

Just by thinking about it, though, she could make sense out of what he was striving for. And he should simply say it outright… he could just tell her he wanted to court her.

She honestly didn’t think she wanted someone courting her at the moment. Yet she was at the age where men would begin to pine after her, to request her hand in marriage. Suitors would show up at her doorstep eventually, no matter if she wanted them to or not. Her mother had always spoken about it, hinting at a marriage between Sif and a Prince… but not Prince Loki. Her mother always spoke of Prince Thor.

She had spent her entire life hearing she would become Queen one day. Little did it matter that she didn’t care for being Queen or for bearing children, for being a wife and starting a family. She had always wanted to fight, to become a warrior and lead an army into glorious battles. It was why she had taken her father’s sword immediately when she thought the wolf Fenrir was a real threat. It was why she had been beyond pleased when the All-Father complimented her over dinner that very night, and told her parents that Sif would make a great military leader for Asgard’s forces one day. If it hadn’t been for that, Sif would have never become a warrior. If it hadn’t been for Loki…

She had always tried to ignore her mother’s constant muttering about her marrying Thor. Sif feared she had already made wedding plans for them and everything, without even asking Sif if this was what she wanted in life. And on some level Sif had thought that marrying Thor was what was expected of her. She had internalized that she’d end up marrying Thor one day… but she hoped that day would be very far away. She didn’t want to marry anyone until she had accomplished all the great deeds in the battlefield that she dreamt of. And that was so far off that she barely gave the matter any thought…

But truth to be told, she didn’t want to marry Thor. She had never wanted to. He was a great friend, and an even better fighter. One day he would be King, and she would be more than honored to be in his service, fighting his battles and defeating his enemies… but to sit beside him while he ruled Asgard seemed the wrong idea to her. She didn’t really want to become his  Queen.

And she could see the appeal to Thor’s looks, she wasn’t blind after all. His blond hair complimented his features all too well, he was very fit and he had beautiful eyes too. He was slightly arrogant, perhaps too arrogant, but what else could you expect from Asgard’s Crown Prince? Yet even though Sif acknowledged the appeal Thor presented for any girl her age, she truly didn’t feel drawn to him as she should be, especially considering that she was bound to marry him one day.

Still, on the other hand, there was Loki… Loki. The young boy who had given her and her family quite the fright when she first arrived into Asgard’s Palace. The one who had shaved her head, but done everything in his power to make up for his mistakes. He had been a different sort of friend from Thor, one who would hardly ever seek her out. He would just sit around and wait for her to come to him… which would have misled anyone else, perhaps, because such behavior might have hinted at Loki not wanting to see her. 

But Sif didn’t miss the way his eyes became brighter when he realized she wanted to talk with him. She could never hold back a subtle grin when he began rambling about all he could do with his latest magic spell. She enjoyed the sound of his voice as he read his books aloud for her. Training with him happened to be more fun at times than training with the others, for he was ridiculously inventive. He’d always find a way to keep her on edge, be it with his magic or with his daggers, it made no difference. All in all… Loki had become a necessary presence in her life. Whether they could only find enough time to have a short conversation or if they would end up spending the entire day in the other’s company, Sif just needed to be around him. She could easily go days without running into Thor… but not Loki. He truly was her best friend.

But he wanted to be more than that, didn’t he? Sif doubted the situation would be so much better if she was with Loki instead of Thor… she’d still be married to a Prince, still be expected to make a family and to give up everything she had worked for.

But Loki knew just how much she cherished her life as a warrior, he knew it better than anyone. He would never force a boring life upon her… so perhaps that was why he didn’t dare attempt to court her for real. He knew what sort of consequences it would bring upon her if she accepted… thus he thought she would refuse. Maybe he believed she didn’t like him that way.

Sif had never actually asked herself if she did until now. She liked to tease him from time to time, but he often did the same to her. It didn’t mean she was infatuated with him, though…

But looking at him now sent a thousand new thoughts through her mind. There was an obvious, blatant beauty to Thor, although surely Thor wouldn’t call it that. Yet most people said Thor was beautiful. Sif would agree, for he was… but there was something about Loki that made him gracefully beautiful. His eyes were dazzling, now that Sif thought about it. His hands were slender and elegant. His dark hair made her wonder what it might feel like to touch it… his jaw and cheekbones were well lined, Sif noted. Had they always been that way? Maybe Loki had been growing up gradually, but since she spent that much time with him, she hadn’t quite noticed those changes…

“Will you keep watching me, or will you continue practicing, Sif?” Loki asked, raising an eyebrow and bringing her out of her daze. “The arrows won’t shoot themselves.”

“I’m just wondering what’s the matter with you, is all…” she covered up quickly, but chances were he would have seen through her lie.

She shot all the arrows until the quiver was empty. Most of them hit the target, but she didn’t get any bullseyes. Loki muttered recommendations from time to time, and Sif did her very best to abide by them. She tried a second round, and then a third, and a fourth… and by the last one her fingers hurt slightly, all the same as her back, due to the new tension she had subjected her body to.

“Would that be all, then?” Loki asked, when Sif conveyed her desire to stop practicing.

“For now,” said Sif, sighing and handing the bow back. “I think it’s too small a bow, though…”

“I haven’t acquired a new one, truth to be told,” said Loki. “My mother gifted me with it when I told her of my interest in archery, back when I was younger. My father was beyond relieved when I finally showed interest in something regarding warfare… I suppose that my archery skills are the one thing he’s truly proud of in what regards me.”

“Don’t be ridiculous,” said Sif, rolling her eyes. “If anything, he ought to beam with pride about you nowadays. You’re so skilled with daggers that you even defeat the most notorious warriors of Asgard!”

Loki smiled and looked at her sideways. Sif found herself blushing weakly at that. There was another thing that made Loki handsome, his damned smiles… though half the time she just wanted to punch him when he grinned. Still, when he did it earnestly, he looked beautiful, beautiful enough to outshine even Thor, Sif found herself thinking.

“Why, thank you, Lady Sif,” Loki said. “I hope you’re right about that. In any case, though… it’s becoming late. Should we postpone our reading session of the day, or do you still have some time to spare for me?”

“Time to spare for you? You make it sound as if I hadn’t just spent the whole day with you, you Trickster,” said Sif, and Loki chuckled. “Truth to be told… I don’t think I need to go anywhere at the moment. If you want to read, I wouldn’t mind tagging along.”

“W-well, if you’re sure…” said Loki, biting his lip. Sif raised an eyebrow.

“What are you so nervous about, Loki?” she asked. “We’ve been reading together for years, and you’re fidgeting about it now?”

“I just… the book I brought with me today is not at all like the books I have read to you until now,” said Loki, gulping. “If it bothers you on some level, I won’t read it.”

“Why would it bother me?” Sif asked, raising an eyebrow. “What could possibly disturb me about any book you read?”

“A-ah, well… you’ll see,” Loki said, gulping.

Not too long afterwards, they both sat underneath the shade of their tree, and Loki materialized today’s book. Sif raised an eyebrow, and Loki cleared his throat before lying back against the tree, a position in which he usually looked relaxed, but today it only made him look more tense.

“Well?” Sif asked, raising her eyebrows. “What’s this new book of yours about?”

“It’s… a poetry book,” said Loki, gulping. “From Midgard, someone brought it to Asgard some years ago. If it’s not enjoyable, you can tell me and I’ll find a better book for tomorrow…”

“Give it a try,” Sif said, folding her arms over her chest and looking at Loki with interest. “Do you understand the language?”

“Yes, I’ll translate for you,” said Loki, clearing his throat as he readied himself for something he doubted he’d ever be ready for.

Sif was quite comfortable, delighting herself with the sound of his voice, as she often did, when he read the second poem. She frowned slightly and looked at him with confusion and curiosity, and Loki just kept reading. The third and the fourth seemed normal enough, it seemed to Sif. But the fifth poem…

> “Suns may set, and suns may rise again:
> 
> but when our brief light has set,
> 
> night is one long everlasting sleep.
> 
> Give me a thousand kisses, a hundred more,
> 
> another thousand, and another hundred,
> 
> and, when we’ve counted up the many thousands,
> 
> confuse them so as not to know them all…”

“What is…? What is this, Loki?” Sif asked, leaning over his shoulder to look at the poetry book.

“I-it’s just midgardian poetry, no more than that! The author is named Catullus, if you need to know…” Loki muttered, blushing. “What is it? Embarrassed to hear about kisses?”

“The one who looks embarrassed to me is you,” Sif pointed out, at which he scowled.

“I’ll just… keep reading,” he muttered, licking his lips before moving on to the next poem.

Sif kept looking at him as he continued to read, wondering if this was the reason he had begun acting so awkwardly today: she was sure he always had a close look at the books before reading them to her. Perhaps he had already read this strange poem about kisses before choosing to read it to her, then…

Did that mean he wanted to kiss her? The idea made Sif shiver, despite herself. She hadn’t quite thought of kissing Loki… of kissing anyone, for that matter. She’d never done it before. She was a shield maiden, she had focused solely on her career as a warrior and her relationships were only friendships and camaraderie with her fellow warriors. Not often did she give thought to being involved with anyone romantically… not often did she think about kissing someone.

But maybe kissing Loki wouldn’t be a bad idea. He liked her, that much Sif knew. He didn’t say it too often, but he had praised her looks a few times. More often than not she caught him looking at her for longer than he should. Whenever that happened, she’d raise her eyebrows and he’d look away, flustered. It was flattering, perhaps, that Loki would like her in this way… but she had never quite thought of kissing him. She had never thought he’d want to kiss her. But he had chosen these very poems, he had been acting strangely today, he had touched her more than usual and been far more flustered than he normally would be…

She wondered if perhaps his heart was thumping as he tried to keep calm while reading… for he wasn’t staying calm at all. His voice trembled occasionally as he read the sixth poem, and it began trembling even more when he moved on to the seventh.

> “Lesbia, you ask how many kisses of yours
> 
> would be enough and more to satisfy me…”

“Who’s Lesbia?” Sif asked, at which Loki flinched.

“T-the woman Catullus wrote to, I believe,” he said, and his eyes widened when Sif leaned closer to him to have a better look at the poem. What was she looking at? She couldn’t understand the language! But leaning she was, and her shoulder pressed against his…

“Go on, then,” Sif said, and Loki gritted his teeth before continuing, hoping he wouldn’t start sweating nervously because of her.

> “A-as many as the grains of Libyan sand...
> 
> that lie between hot Jupiter’s oracle,
> 
> at Ammon, in resin-producing Cyrene,
> 
> and old Battiades sacred tomb...”

“Jupiter? Ammon? Cyrene?” Sif repeated, looking up at him. “Who are those?”

“I-I… I think places, or maybe some gods the Midgardians adore…” said Loki, gulping. Her face was too close. Too close.

“I thought we were the gods the Midgardians adored,” Sif muttered, raising an eyebrow.

“N-not all of them, apparently,” said Loki, gulping. “Some adore others… they are quite religious, pledging themselves to every random deity that they come up with. Not all of them are real, I wager… but perhaps some aside from us are real. It’s, uh, impossible to know…”

“Right…” Sif said. She had missed everything he had just told her, busy staring at the movement of his lips as he spoke. Maybe kissing him wouldn’t be such a bad idea…

“So, uh…” Loki said, clearing his throat. 

> “O-or as many as the stars, when night is still,
> 
> gazing down on secret human desires:
> 
> as many of your kisses kissed
> 
> are enough, and more, for mad Catullus,
> 
> as can’t be counted by spies
> 
> nor an evil tongue bewitch us”.

Again more kisses… again more alluring words that sounded so compelling when he was the one to whisper them…

“T-that’s the… seventh,” Loki said, looking down at Sif nervously. 

And his anxiety only increased when he realized she was looking at him. Her emerald eyes had a strange tinge to them… why was she looking at him like this? Did she want something? Ah, but he dared not ask if she did… that might break the spell. But what spell? He hadn’t used any magic… save for the magic of poetry, of course. But this was definitely not what he had expected… he had thought that maybe she would be amused by the poems, that perhaps they’d make fun of Catullus’s constant talk of kisses. Maybe Sif would say that she didn’t understand why did he seem to make such a fuss about kisses, and Loki would tease her by telling her he could show her why that was. If she took it as a challenge, he could have kissed her… if not, they could just laugh about it. But the way she was staring up at him… it was almost like, for the first time, she was realizing he was a man. It was as she were seeing him in a different light than she had during all these years of friendship that had kept them together…

“Prince Loki! Prince Loki!”

Sif pulled away instantly, and the strange magical moment was over. Loki blinked, not having realized that he was leaning forward. He had been only a breath away from kissing her, hadn’t he? How had that happened?

But it hadn’t happened, not for real. Because a servant had just come to find him.

“Prince Loki, the All-Father and All-Mother await you for dinner!” said the servant, surprising Loki.

“Oh… oh,” he said, nodding. “Very well, then. I shall be there briefly.”

The servant bowed and returned through the same way he had come from. Loki glanced at Sif, who smiled at him weakly.

“It would seem you’re needed, Prince,” she said, standing up. “I suppose you can finish reading that tomorrow.”

“Well, it’s quite a long assortment of poetry, it might take me longer than that… is it fine with you, then?” Loki asked, imitating her. “Or would you rather I find something on epic battles, perhaps?”

“This will do,” Sif said, as they walked together towards the Palace’s side entrance. “I’m not too picky, and I take it you’re reading it because you find some enjoyment in it…”

“It’s poetry… odd Midgardian poetry, I will say, but it’s worth the read regardless,” Loki said, and Sif smiled.

“Indeed, I suppose it is.”

“Will you… be off to the usual banquets, then?” Loki said. “I’d be glad to join, but considering my summoning…”

“You are never glad to join those banquets, Liesmith,” Sif said, smirking. “I will enjoy a meal before going to bed. I’ll need my energies for tomorrow, I believe.”

“Yes, the training…”

“Not for training, but for listening to you gushing about Catullus’s poetry of kisses all day long,” Sif said, smirking at him before taking a turn towards another hallway. “I’ll see you tomorrow, then!”

Loki was left blushing and glaring at her back as she left. Well, if she was so bothered by the poems about kisses, she could just say so! But she sure didn’t seem bothered, she was even asking questions about them. And she had also looked at him with such different eyes today… she had never gazed at him like that. What had been on her mind? Loki couldn’t help but wonder as his feet moved almost out of their own accord towards the Royal Family’s private chambers.

Not often did they enjoy dinner together, just the four of them, but Odin made sure to have it happen at the very least once a month. If only he hadn’t chosen today, of all days, maybe that kiss would have happened... Loki tried his best to stop thinking about it as he took his seat after greeting his father and mother. Frigga gave him a warm smile.

“How was your day, Loki?” she asked, as Thor ate ravenously right next to his brother.

“I-it was fine, I’d say,” Loki muttered, trying to remember what had happened before the poetry reading incident. “I defeated Ralgor today, and afterwards I showed Sif how to use a bow and arrow.”

“Eh, she didn’t know?” Thor said, munching on a leg of lamb. “Well, that’s unexpected!”

“Well, she quite knows how to do it now,” Loki said, smiling. “I wouldn’t challenge nor tease her about it if I were you.”

“Tease Sif? Oh, I’m not so foolish, brother,” said Thor, laughing. “She’d break my arm if I did!”

“I suppose you speak from experience,” Odin spoke at last, at which Loki felt slightly nervous. He had hoped his father wouldn’t pay much attention to their conversation: the older Loki grew, the harder talking with his father would become. “She has sent you to Eir’s chambers quite a few times, and you as well, Loki.”

“Y-yes, well, Sif is quite ruthless,” Loki muttered, with a weak smile as he picked up his fork and knife to begin eating.

“It’s quite an unexpected relief that you’ve been excelling at the training grounds, I will say,” Odin spoke. “In no time you two will be able to take up quests, I believe.”

“Wha…? You think so, father?!” Thor said, excitedly, and Loki as well was pleasantly surprised at that. Only the most talented warriors were sent on quests, he knew…

“Surely. There’s a strong warrior of mine, Volstagg…” Odin began.

“Uh… him?” Thor asked, raising an eyebrow. “He’s always picking fights with Fandral for one reason or the other. What of him, father?”

“He requires a team for his future quests. His former allies have been rendered unable to accompany him. Some are busy, others sustained terrible wounds...” Odin said. “I thought perhaps you could go with him when the time comes, Thor. And since Loki is doing so well in battle, it would seem befitting that you would accompany them as well.”

“I-I… do you truly think so, father?” Loki said, surprised.

“Why, yes. The two of you ought to make a very good team,” said Odin. “You should take that friend of yours too, Fandral. This way he’ll be forced to get along with Volstagg one way or another. And also the young Vanir I introduced you to today, Thor.”

“A Vanir?” Loki asked, surprised. “Is that why you were recalled from training?”

“Yeah, father wished for me to welcome a new score of fighters from Vanaheim,” Thor said. “In order to strengthen our union with their realm.”

“I thought our union with the Vanir was perfectly strong…” Loki said, looking at his mother. Frigga laughed.

“Of course it is,” she said. “But it doesn’t hurt any for both realms to cooperate, don’t you believe, Loki?”

Loki smiled and nodded, and Thor continued talking.

“This fellow’s called Hogun,” he said, as he chewed some toasted bread. “He’s very silent and serious… not at all like most of our people. Maybe you would get along with him, Loki, he’s got black hair like you and all. Maybe he’s your lost brother!”

“If he were my lost brother he’d be your brother as well, fool,” Loki said matter-of-factly, at which Thor blinked blankly.

“Huh, well... that is true, I suppose,” he said, before laughing loudly.

“And not for having the same hair color would it mean he’s related to me. Sif’s hair is black…”

“It wasn’t always black,” said Thor, at which Loki went quiet. “So that’s not a valid argument, Loki! Ha! For once, I beat you at this!”

“It doesn’t stop being true, though! I’m not going to be related to every single black-haired person in the Nine Realms!” Loki exclaimed, rolling his eyes.

“Well, indeed, you aren’t,” said Odin, at which both his sons fell silent. “But you might be related to Lady Sif one day indeed. I believe she ought to join you on that quest as well, she’s more than ready for…”

“What is that supposed to mean, father?” Loki asked, frowning. “Why would he… be related to me?”

“Well, Loki,” said Odin, looking at both him at Thor. “We don’t often speak of this, but Lady Sif was brought here for a very different reason than the one you two believed.”

“She didn’t come to become a warrior?” Thor asked. “That’s what she always told me…”

“Her parents and I had spoken often of our children, with matching age and skills,” Odin said, at which Loki frowned. Surely the one whose skills matched with Sif’s wasn’t him… “From the moment you met her, Thor, you were meant to take her hand in marriage one day.”

Thor’s eyes widened at that. Marrying Sif?

“Wha-...? Father, are you serious? Sif?” he said, blinking a few times. For all this time Sif had been his friend, another warrior… she was a girl, indeed, but he had never thought of her this way. He feared if he tried to make an advance towards her, which he really didn’t feel too inclined towards doing, she would slice his hand off with her weapons and reject him blatantly.

“Yes, I am, Thor,” Odin said. “The arrangement for the marriage collapsed after she became a warrior, though. She was pursuing other interests, so I decided to postpone all our plans until you both were much older.”

“Wait, you were planning on marrying us as children?!”

“Of course not,” said Odin, looking at Thor sternly. “I planned on bethroting you to her. But it never went through because that would have kept her from becoming a warrior. Perhaps in some years, though, once you’ve both seen your fair share of wars and battlefields…”

“No!”

The room quieted down suddenly upon Loki’s unexpected exclamation. Frigga looked at him with concern, Odin seemed surprised and Thor even stopped swallowing food unceremoniously to turn towards his brother.

“No?” Odin repeated, his eye set on Loki now.

“Y-you can’t just do that!” Loki burst out. “You can’t simply arrange them to marry because you think it’ll be convenient!”

“Loki, you are quite close to Lady Sif, are you not?” Odin said, frowning. “You know her better than many. Is she not suitable for being queen?”

“What does it matter if she is or isn’t?!” Loki said. “That’s not what she wants! If she wanted to marry Thor she would have… s-she wouldn’t have taken up weapons and warfare!”

“And how do you know she won’t want to marry him in the future, Loki?” Odin asked, surprised.

“I… I don’t think… how would you know if she does?” Loki muttered, glaring at his father. “You’re simply making decisions on her life without telling her of it, how do you know if she really means to marry Thor?”

“Sif is a strong young woman,” said Odin. “And unlike you two, she had always known about this”

“S-she… she what?” Loki said, eyes wide.

“Really? And she didn’t tell me?” Thor said, surprised.

“Lady Sif understands her duty to this realm, Loki,” said Odin. “And I’m certain she’ll be more than willing to uphold it when the time comes.”

“B-but… you said… you said we were both born to be kings,” Loki muttered. “Why would she be a queen only by marrying Thor?”

“You know Thor is older, Loki, he is the Crown Prince. It’s simple as that,” declared Odin, returning to his food. “Now, stop making a fuss about this. It shouldn’t bother you so that your brother will marry Lady Sif. She’s a perfect match for him, and if you’re such good friends with her, then you’ll be glad for her to become your sister. As for what regards that quest, though, I believe it’s not an urgent matter. Your group will have several months to prepare for it…”

Loki didn’t listen anymore, his eyes focused on his food. He didn’t care about quests or battles or any of what his father might say now… all he could think of was Sif. He had always thought it odd that she would give him any attention when nearly nobody else would… that she had become his friend and spent so much time with him. She was so beautiful and wonderful, and Loki often thought of how lucky he had been that Sif hadn’t shunned him away without even knowing him. He was very lucky that she was his friend… and now he realized that was all the luck he’d ever get. 

On some level he had known, of course… she was too much for him. He wasn’t worthy. Yet why was Thor worthy, when he wasn’t? Thor was a fool, a big brute and a fool… Sif deserved better than that. Being queen hardly could make up for marrying Thor, could it?

He felt a hand stretch over his, and he raised his eyes to find his mother looking at him worriedly while Thor and Odin spoke of the quest.

“Loki…” she muttered, and he frowned.

He didn’t reply to her. He didn’t do anything other than pulling his hand away and eating almost unwillingly. He just wanted to get out of here, to stay as far from his father and the rest of his family as possible. After all this time of pining after her… after having fallen head over heels for her, now it turned out she had been destined for his brother all along. It wasn’t fair. It was wrong, though he could hardly tell why that was. Yet everything he had ever hoped for… everything he had ever dreamed that might happen between him and Sif had just shattered and faded away into nothingness. 

The only question that lingered was that Sif had known about this, according to the All-Father… Sif had known she would marry Thor. So why hadn’t she pursued him, why waste her time with Loki? Well, if she ever did marry Thor, Loki would make sure to ask her why had she bothered leading him on all along. Because that was what had happened. That was what she had done… by not telling him that she meant to marry Thor. By not pushing him away today, by not rejecting his not-so-subtle advances. What had she been thinking by growing so close to him when she would spend the rest of her life with the other Prince?

He had a hard time keeping calm the next day when he met her again in the training grounds. Everyone took for granted that he was simply having a bad day, given his extreme bad mood, but Sif was noticeably worried. She asked him a few times if he was feeling well, wondering if perhaps he was ill or if something had displeased him… and Loki only spoke solemnly when he told her not to worry for his health, to concern herself with training and nothing more.

He defeated a few more opponents today, but he avoided his friends pointedly. Thor asked him to fight with him and Loki ignored him. Fandral taunted him and Loki pretended not to hear. He simply sat beside that Vanir Thor had welcomed yesterday, Hogun, was it? And just as Thor had guaranteed, the warrior was silent and stern. He wouldn’t ask Loki unwanted questions. So Loki simply waited beside him until someone outside from his three friends challenged him.

“Did something happen to him?” Sif asked Thor later, at which Thor gulped and shrugged.

“W-well… there was a bit of an argument last night, between him and my father.”

“An argument?” Fandral said. “Since when does Loki get into arguments with the All-Father?”

“Since yesterday, it seems,” replied Thor, sighing. “Everything was fine but then Loki snapped…”

“About what?” Sif asked, confused.

“Uh… I don’t quite remember,” said Thor, scratching his head. He rather doubted Sif was ready to hear about what had happened. “Anyone else wants to fight me?!”

Thor’s evasive behavior only served to fuel Sif’s concerns over Loki. As the day passed by he remained aloof, his blue eyes glacial as he glared at the floor in front of him, his arms folded over his black outfit. Why, oh, why did he have to fascinate her so? She had been fine before yesterday! All she should feel towards Loki should be worry, she should simply want to know what was bothering him… but there was a tingle in her stomach whenever she looked at him now, whenever her eyes raked over his long, slender legs… since when were they this long? Why did his pale complexion contrast with the darkness of his leathers so well…?

The warriors began departing from the training grounds at mid-afternoon, and Loki figured he’d leave with them. There was no point in staying here doing nothing. He could go practice some more magic, teleporting spells were finally starting to work properly for him…

“Loki…” he heard a familiar voice behind him, and he froze at the sound.

“Lady Sif?” he muttered, looking at her sideways, without regarding her earnestly.

“Where are you going?” she asked him.

“Training is over, isn’t it?” he asked.

“It is, but… weren’t you going to keep reading that book for me?”

Loki turned towards her, astonished. The way she was looking at him was only slightly reminiscent of how she had looked at him yesterday… because now there was such concern over her features that Loki simply couldn’t keep pushing her away. No matter if he was still angry about having been kept in the dark in regards of Sif’s fate, he couldn’t do this to her… it wasn’t her fault, he was sure of it.

“I… I will,” he said, nodding.“I was just distracted, it’s nothing.”

“You’ve been quite distracted the whole day,” said Sif, smiling weakly. “It’s a true wonder you didn’t get beaten badly when you kept staring into space throughout training.”

“I wasn’t staring into space while I was fighting… I only did that once the fight was over with,” Loki explained, before starting towards the secluded gardens in which stood their tree.

“I suppose…” said Sif, biting her lip and looking at him warily. He still seemed utterly displeased over something… well, if he was mad at his father, he could just tell her about it. It seemed unfair for him to treat her so distantly when she had nothing to do with whatever had happened.

Loki remained as stern as ever by the time they sat beneath the tree. Sif sat next to him, as always, but she kept more distance than the previous day. She didn’t want to displease him further.

“Loki, if you don’t want to do this… if you have something else to do, you can go ahead and do it,” Sif said.

“And why should I have something to do?” Loki asked, raising an eyebrow.

“Because you’re acting weird,” Sif said. “And not yesterday-weird, but angry-weird. What happened to you?”

“Nothing has happ-…”

“Don’t lie to me,” said Sif, frowning. “Thor said you argued with your father last night…”

“Oh, Thor said that?” Loki muttered, between gritted teeth.

“W-why… yes, Thor said so, what of it?” Sif replied, looking at him with confusion.

Loki glanced at her, but now his eyes had a tinge of sadness on them, something that Sif couldn’t make out. He looked at her briefly before dropping his head against the tree’s bark and sighing.

“I’m sorry. I shouldn’t act like this. I honestly don’t feel like explaining, though… so can we simply read?”

Sif looked at him worriedly for a moment before dropping her gaze.

“Fine. If you feel like sharing, though… you can talk to me, Loki.”

“Because we’re… friends, right?” Loki said, still with that hint of sadness in his voice.

Sif didn’t reply. She simply looked at him, knowing he was bothered by only being her friend… he wanted more. Was that the reason he was upset, then? Had he told his father that he wished to court Sif, and Odin had told him she was meant to marry Thor? If that was it, though…

Sif bit her lip and moved closer, pretending to be eyeing the book Loki had just reopened. He looked at the eight poem, and sighed before starting it, his eyebrows drawing closer together as he began whispering the words slowly.

> “Advice to myself:
> 
> Sad Catullus, stop playing the fool,
> 
> and let what you know leads you to ruin, end.”

Sif froze with those two verses. That didn’t sound at all like the previous poems he had read…

> “Once, bright days shone for you” 
> 
> “when you came often drawn to the girl
> 
> loved as no other will be loved by you.
> 
> Then there were many pleasures with her,
> 
> that you wished, and the girl not unwilling,
> 
> truly the bright days shone for you.
> 
> And now she no longer wants you: and you,
> 
> weak man, be unwilling to chase what flees,
> 
> or live in misery: be strong-minded, stand firm.”

Sif stared at him in utter shock. Was that really what the poem said, or was he altering the content at will? Was this what he meant to do, then…? To follow this advice, to let this end because he thought she didn’t want him?

Loki noticed she was stiffening next to him, that she looked at him accusingly. Well, it wasn’t his fault that it seemed Catullus had gone through the same hardships he had. It was the beauty of poetry, you never knew when you would find the exact poem that would convey what your own words never could...

> “Goodbye girl, now Catullus is firm,
> 
> he doesn’t search for you, won’t ask unwillingly.
> 
> But you’ll grieve, when nobody asks.
> 
> Woe to you, wicked girl, what life’s left for you?
> 
> Who’ll submit to you now? Who’ll see your beauty?
> 
> Who now will you love? Whose will they say you’ll be?
> 
> Who will you kiss? Whose lips will you bite?
> 
> But you, Catullus, be resolved to be firm.”

Loki fell silent after that last verse, and he lowered the book for a moment. He sighed and turned to look at Sif, to tell her some jape about Catullus’s resolve likely being too weak to last, but he found her looking at him again with that expression in her eyes.

“Sif…” he said, looking at her worriedly for a moment.

“Is that what it says?” she asked him. “Is it really… is that what that poem really says, Loki?”

He didn’t know how to answer to her. Of course it was, did she think he could improvise such quality of poetry out of nowhere? And he most certainly wouldn’t have chosen poetry to convey his utter disappointment at having lost her even though she had never been his to lose. He hadn’t planned on sharing his frustration about this with anyone, let alone with her. If he could have come up with a poem, besides, it would have likely been directed to the irritation he felt towards his father. In truth, he hardly blamed Sif for this at all…

But for some reason he couldn’t tell her. For some reason he could only look at her with wide eyes, as she stared at him in what seemed to be despair. He didn’t want to be the one who brought such an expression out of her… he didn’t want her to look at him this way. She should smile and laugh, she shouldn’t look as though she were on the verge of tears…

But then something new happened, something even more surprising than the strange look on her eyes.

The first thing he noticed was that one of her hands fell upon his forearm. The next thing he knew was that she was moving closer to him, closer than she had ever been. Suddenly he felt her breath on his face, and he found himself staring wide-eyed at her just before she closed her own eyes.

Her lips trembled when they found his. Loki was frozen in place, incapable of doing anything as she kissed him. He forgot to think, he forgot to breathe, he forgot to blink… everything seemed to have stopped around him, yet nothing had. Time ticked away slowly, and he was just sitting there, his head turned as she kissed him shyly, insecurely…

Sif pulled away an instant afterwards, staring at him nervously. Maybe that had been the wrong way to go about this… but it had been his fault. How dared he allure and entice her with all that reading about kisses only for him to keep pushing her away afterwards? Did he really think she would stand for that?

Her heart was racing wildly in her chest, though, as she wondered if he would say something now. Maybe he wouldn’t. Maybe he’d just keep staring at her as if she had committed a crime...

“Loki…” she muttered, when it seemed he’d say nothing.

He returned to reality when she whispered his name. What had she done? She had just… kissed him. She had kissed him. Sif had kissed him…

Why? What for? Was Sif crazy?! If she was supposed to marry Thor she couldn’t spend her free time kissing him! But… why not? Why not, while she still wasn’t betrothed to Loki’s brother? Maybe Loki had no right to kiss the woman his brother was meant to marry… but she had been the one to kiss him first. Maybe she really liked him better than Thor. Not in vain had she chosen black over blond so long ago…

He breathed heavily now, looking at her in disbelief yet amazement. Maybe she really wanted him… maybe this was why she had spent all this time with him. Maybe this was the explanation behind all the mysteries he hadn’t figured out. Why would she like him better than Thor, though? Nobody did… why choose him above his brother?

He had no idea why she would. But he had to make sure she wouldn’t regret it.

Her hand had just pulled away from his forearm, but now he caught it with his own. Sif’s gaze only flickered down towards it momentarily before raising her eyes towards him again, only an instant before he leaned in to kiss her.

Relief washed over Sif upon this. She had almost thought he’d reject her… it would have broken her heart if he had. She pulled closer to him as his hands reached up to her face, and his kiss was desperate but gentle still. Sif’s hands found his chest instead, and Loki shifted to turn towards her, and the book on his lap rolled off to the ground when he did.

The kisses they were exchanging were insecure, nervous, careful… but they conveyed just how badly they had both wanted to do this. His arms surrounded her waist now, and he was determined to kiss her so passionately that she would never want to kissed by another…

Their hearts were drumming rapidly in their chests as one, their breaths mixed together. They couldn’t pull away, even though someone could find them… but oh, Loki wouldn’t have wanted anything more than to be caught here and now by anyone, so that his father would hear of it… so that he would know what Sif had chosen. So that he would know who would submit to Sif. So that he’d understand who saw her beauty, who loved her deeply, who Sif had given herself to. Loki was the man she kissed… Loki was the man she had chosen. Loki. Not Thor… Loki.

They panted when they separated, looking at each other nervously now. Loki licked his lips, and found the taste of hers had lingered on them…

“Sif…” he muttered, caressing her face. “Sif…”

“Don’t say anything,” she pleaded with him, her forehead pressing against his. “Don’t bother… saying anything. There’s no need to…”

“Sif, is this for real?” Loki said, ignoring her request. “Did you just do this because…?”

“Because I wanted to, you thrice damned fool,” she muttered, caressing his neck. “For no other reason than that. Stop… stop overthinking things. I wanted to kiss you. I… I still want to…”

“But… that was your first… was it your first?” Loki muttered, gulping.

“Of course it was,” Sif said, blushing weakly. “Wasn’t it yours?”

“Y-yeah…” he said, with a smile. That must have been his first grin in the whole day. Sif was so pleased to see it that she had to lean in to kiss him again.

Loki kissed her back, and Sif found herself wondering if kisses were meant to feel this good. Was it because she was kissing the one person she wanted to kiss…? Or was it that he was ridiculously skilled at it? Whatever the case was, she was thoroughly delighted.

“Then…” he muttered, caressing her hair when they pulled away. “Sif, then… are we…? Are the two of us… together now?”

Sif smiled a little before answering.

“Haven’t we always been?”

Loki sighed with relief before hugging her tightly, so tightly that Sif could only laugh as she embraced him all the same. She closed her eyes and beamed… who would have known that all Loki had needed to cheer up was a kiss?

Though clearly, just one kiss wasn’t enough, and perhaps hundreds or thousands still wouldn’t be, either. Yet the urge to kiss each other was ever so strong, and renewed at the end of every brush of their lips. Loki found her lips with his again, and Sif was mesmerized again by how wonderful it felt to be kissed by him. Yes, from the moment she had been brought to Asgard she had been told she was to marry Thor… but from the moment she had arrived to the Palace she had overcome all expectations people had placed on her. She didn’t want to marry Thor, she didn’t care for marriage at the moment. What she wanted… the boy she really wanted was Loki.

And if his kisses were any indication, it would seem he felt the same way. For how long would this affair last before someone caught them…? Sif didn’t know. Could it end well? It was the question Loki couldn’t stop asking himself. But they weren’t going to pull away anymore. They weren’t going to submit themselves to what was expected of them. They only had one life to live, after all… and they had no better idea of how to spend it than to do so together.


End file.
